Final Fantasy VII - A Novel
by Squee61842
Summary: This is a novelization of the classic Playstation RPG. I am keeping it as true to the actual storyline of the game as possible, while still adding some of my own own ideas to it. Let me know what you think of it so far. I just added a new chapter, and
1. Final Fantasy VII

~ It has been said that everything in the universe is fundamentally composed of energy. What we think of as matter is really nothing more than a certain type of energy. And since energy cannot be created or destroyed but merely transferred, some speculate that living beings never truly die. Their life energy is simply returned to the universe in its simplest form. ~ 


	2. Prologue

Prologue  
  
  
From the infinite depths of space, it appeared as but a marble in a sea of black. It was surrounded by tiny dots of light, dimmed by their unfathomable distance. It was a lonely object in such a large universe. It had only one, barren, satellite. There were other large and colorful objects near it, but they were just as lifeless as its satellite.  
It was mostly blue, with hazes of white clouds appearing every once in awhile. There were some areas that were brown and green, indicating dry land, but these constituted far less of its surface than the dark blue of the oceans. It was beautiful to see in comparison to the black that bathed it in every direction. The depths of blue reflected the close light of the sun that heated the entire system of objects in its general vicinity.  
A small, meaningless object in the middle of a place filled with small, meaningless objects. However, it held one distinction from most of these objects. The beautiful, sparkling blue oceans that covered so much of its surface. These vast expanses of water were what made this one object so unique. Because this object held more than just rock and sediment within its influence. It held more than just vast oceans within its influence. It held life.  
And life had indeed flourished. It actually began in those very oceans, although in their primordial form when they were a strange ooze of various material. The first organisms to form survived without oxygen. Oxygen was absent from the air on the primitive planet during the early days of life. It would be soon, however, when oxygen would become crucial.  
These early heterotrophic organisms fed off of the nutritional material that had saturated the water in which they had formed. This vast supply eventually ran out, however, and life had to adapt to its loss of easy nutrition. And as it always does, life evolved. The evolution of early autotrophic plant life was a major turning point in the history of life.  
Not only did these early organisms produce their own food from the massive energy of the Sun, but they also created oxygen as a waste product. As more and more of these organisms developed, more and more oxygen mixed into the air of the early planet. The advent of oxygen-breathing organisms was near.  
Oxygen-breathing organisms began in the water just as their extremely primitive ancestors had. However, these aquatic creatures would soon evolve to the point that they could take their first fateful steps onto the dry land of their planet. Land organisms began to grow in number and diversity, and the miraculous ability of life to evolve began to show even more clearly.  
Eventually, five groups of distinct organisms grew from the primitive ancestry. The monerans, or bacteria, remained primitive, although they diversified a great deal. The protists were a bundle of very different organisms that had developed characteristics of other groups but did not quite fit the definitions of those groups. The plants continued to flourish and build on their capability of producing their own food. They also replenished the oxygen supply that was used by the more complex organisms that relied on the gas for life. The fungi also diversified greatly, becoming advanced but stationary ground feeders.  
The fifth and most complex group was the animal kingdom. Animals were far more advanced than their cousins. The most advanced of the animals had developed nervous systems and the ability to learn and adapt to their surroundings. They had developed the ability to consciously hunt down and eat other organisms for nourishment. They had also, by the ways of nature, learned to live in balance with their surroundings. This would change in a short time, though.  
Only a mere millisecond ago in geological time, the first human beings began to form from their primate ancestry. The human race was the most complex organism to ever have been born of the planet. It had remarkable learning capabilities. It understood its surroundings far better than its cousins. It had developed something much more important than that, however. Its primate cousins had developed it somewhat, but not well enough for it to be practical. The human race had developed communication.  
Communication made the survival of a physically weak race a possibility. It allowed two people to share their experiences and explain their knowledge to others. It made hunting easy, even though humans really had no natural extensions to help them with hunting. At first, early humans were nomadic, traveling at all times and always living off of the land. Later, however, humans would learn to settle in one place and domesticate other organisms for the sole purpose of providing food.  
Over an extremely short period of time the human race grew in leaps and bounds in its understanding and knowledge of the world to which they had been born. Humans developed cities, in which a revolutionary idea came to play. The people who cultivated the land still actually made the food that they ate. But the people within the city ate food which they had not actually hunted for or grown themselves. This freed them up for leisure, but most importantly, thinking.  
Leisure time meant new ideas, and new ideas meant new inventions. The human race developed a penchant for making survival easier by creating useful objects. Technology became a second thought for the average human. Humans conquered the seas, and brought the entire world together. Mobile communication technologies made it just as easy to talk to someone across the world as it was to talk to someone next door. Humans conquered the air, and brought the world even closer together. Human beings had done something that no other organism could possible do: unite the entire race from around the world for a common cause.  
Technological achievements came at a price, however. Technological devices used power, and power had to be taken from the land. The one thing that humans had never learned to do the way other animals had was to live in balance with nature. Huge power plants were built to reap the benefits of the planet to fuel the exponentially evolving technology. Humans had only learned to take from the planet. They had never learned to give back. The natural resources of the planet that had once seemed infinite suddenly seemed small.  
And so the human race had reached its apex. They had developed to the point at which they could not develop any farther: their requirements were too much for the planet to handle. The human race had raped its birthplace of its essence, and had in so doing destroyed its chances of a long-term existence on the planet.   
In a mere second of the time that the planet had existed, one group of organisms had managed to destroy so much of what nature had given them. The course of nature had been permanently curbed, and the future looked decidedly grim. On this small object floating in space, the most complex of organisms had reached the point at which it could no longer support itself. A revolution of nature had taken place on this small, meaningless, endlessly spinning object which we call Earth.  



	3. Bombing Mission

Chapter One: Bombing Mission  
  
  
It was a calm and unseasonably warm night over the city of Midgar. It was the middle of winter, and yet it was warm enough to comfortably walk outside in shorts. Actually, most pedestrians walking the streets were dressed in their casual summer attire. It would have been a wonderful night to just sit up and look at the stars, if those people hadn't lived in Midgar. Light pollution made that all but impossible in the city.  
The roads were basically packed, although that was nothing out of the ordinary. Midgar was the busiest city in the world, and of course it never slept. It could be 2:00 in the morning and there would still be people on the roads going somewhere. Huge trucks and small cars of every size and shape streamed across the busy roadways and bridges, making it a dangerous prospect to be a late night pedestrian.   
The night sky over the great city glowed with a faint green hue from the eight power reactors that were stationed at equidistant points along the outside of the enclosed circle that was the city's outer wall. Providing power to the entire construct, they were the most important of the city's infrastructure. They were giant, cylindrical structures, with extraction lines extending deep into the surface of the Earth to draw out the essential fuel for everything in the city. They formed the very heart of the city, and when something must be destroyed, you always go for the heart.  
At the center of the circular city was the tall and foreboding Shinra Headquarters. A marvel of architecture, it extended far above the outer wall of the city and could be seen from miles away. It was a testament to the power of the company that held its residence there.  
At the downtown level of the city was where the car and pedestrian traffic formed. Most of the streets circled around the entire city, so that every part of the city was easily accessible. Tiny shops and street stands dotted the streets, so that a needed item was never far out of reach. Markets had sprung up just about everywhere, selling almost anything imaginable. On one street that was relatively near the first of the eight reactors, a young woman was even selling flowers.  
As another, more practical form of transportation, trains were in constant operation on rails that actually extended on top of the circular wall surrounding the city. These trains connected every reactor, and also extended into the slums beneath the upper plate. It was late at night, but most of the more important trains were still running their routes. However, only one was still running a route to the reactors, which had been closed down to general personnel for the night. The train was making a final pickup for any technicians that had yet to go home. Unfortunately for any other personnel still working in reactor number one, the train carried with it other, less reputable, cargo.  
  
* * *  
  
As the train pulled into the station in front of the reactor, a Shinra guard stood stance and prepared to greet the conductor. He was wearing a shiny, cleanly pressed, red Shinra City Guard uniform. He walked with the regal presence of a man who was a veteran to his profession, and had dealt with every walk of life that resided in Midgar. But he was not prepared for what greeted him as he approached the train.  
It came so quickly that even the greatest of Shinra soldiers could not have avoided it. In a blur, a form jumped out of the top of the train and landed next to the guard. Without even thinking, the guard whipped out the rifle that he had been carrying on his back and prepared to fire. He was far too late. The form that was now recognizable as a human being reached forward and snapped the guard's neck. The guard's limp body fell to the ground, his gun dropping to the tracks beneath the train.  
His murderer smiled, and whooped to his cohorts in the train. They leaped out of the hatch in the top one by one. Soon, a group of five people was standing in front of the body. They didn't say a word, but it was obvious that the rest of the group approved of the fine work that the first had done. They glanced around quickly at their surroundings. There didn't seem to be any immediate threat, and the leader of the pack motioned for them to proceed to the door at the end of the station.  
The last of the group to finally follow the leader was still hanging back, his entire body motionless and waiting. Only the leader had seen him do this before. He had heard something, and suspected danger. Sweat beaded on his forehead just below the long tufts of blonde hair, and dripped down the side of his slender face. It happened almost as quickly as the demise of the first guard. Two Shinra soldiers, dressed in blue military attire, burst out of a door on the far end of the station. They immediately saw the source of their loss of contact with the downed guard and lifted their rifles to open fire.  
The mercenary who had been slow to follow the leader acted like a flash of lightning. In the blink of an eye, he had his sword in his hand. It was a gigantic sword, and it was so encumbering that it would be awkward for the strongest man to hold with both hands. But this mercenary wielded it like it was an extension of his body. With the precision and grace of a master swordsman, he slashed both of the soldiers cleanly in half before they had any idea what had happened. Again, the others nodded their approval, but they had no time to dwell on small victories. Their mission was far more difficult.  
The leader was once again gesturing for them to proceed to the door that would lead them out of the station. He was a tall, stocky, black man who commanded the respect of everyone around him. He stood out in a crowd as it was, but it was his one very unique feature that could inspire fear into his enemies. Instead of having a right forearm, he actually had a machine gun attached to the area of his arm where his elbow would be. It was, of course, fully functional, and he was just itching to use it. He knew, however, that patience (especially in his current mission) was a virtue.  
As they five of them went through the door and rounded the corner just outside the station, they were greeted with a glimpse of the enormous reactor. More than one gasp of amazement could be heard amongst them. None of them had ever seen a reactor that close before.  
The man who had been privileged with breaking the neck of the first guard gestured to the other mercenary who had cut down the second two guards.  
"Hey, you. Aren't you the one who used to be in Soldier?" He asked. There was a great deal of admiration in the way he said it. He had never actually met a real member of Soldier (the elite armed forces of the Shinra) before, and he was truly amazed by the way the man had easily destroyed the two guards. The man turned to face the other who had just spoken.  
"My name is Cloud, not hey you. And my past is none of your business, so shut up and keep your voice down."  
The leader ran back to them from the position he had taken just outside the entrance to the reactor.  
"I told you sorry bastards not to stay in one place!" He yelled at them. "Come on, let's get going, Wedge!"  
Wedge, the short, plump man who had talked to Cloud, hung his head down. He was obviously ashamed, especially for having been criticized by the man that he respected most in his life.  
"Sorry, Barret." He answered sheepishly. Cloud didn't say anything, but gave Barret a hard stare. He shook it off easily, though, and soon the entire group of them were headed for the front entrance to the reactor.  
The huge Shinra reactor towered over them, seeming almost majestic as it stared over the city. On the front of the huge tower was a huge number "1", indicating the number of the reactor. Wedge continued to stare at it in disbelief as they neared it, despite Barret's commands to pick up the pace.  
As they reached the front entrance, Barret gestured to the group to come closer.  
"Biggs! Jessie! Come over here!" He yelled to them. The final two members of the group ran over to their beckoning leader. They were the demolition and hacking experts, and their skills were about to be put to the test.  
Without saying a word, the two of them knelt in front of the large door separating them from their goal. Biggs pulled the plastic explosives out of his backpack, and Jessie began punching a code into the detonator. They moved quickly, and Biggs had the explosives fastened to the door before Jessie had even finished entering the code.  
"Stand back, everyone!" Biggs yelled, clarifying the obvious. They did, and as Jessie activated the detonator they knew that Biggs' bomb had done the trick. With a loud bang, the once heavily armored door was reduced to rubble, leaving a large gap for them to enter. They had secured both their entrance and exit and they were ready to push forward.  
Barret leaned in close to the rest of them.  
"That was louder than I had hoped." He whispered, with more than a little anxiety in his voice. "I hope we don't bring the whole fuckin' city down on us. Let's do this quick, and watch out for guards."  
The rest nodded, and followed their staunch leader into the artificial lighting of the reactor. A lone guard had rushed to the noise of their entrance and was quickly mowed down by Barret's gun-arm. The coast was clear after that. A short walk led them to the first of the security checkpoints. It was time for Jessie to show her talents at hacking.  
"So this is what the inside of a Mako Reactor looks like." Wedge said, looking around in wonder at the technological machinery that surrounded him. Empty computer consoles surrounded the walls of the narrow hallway. There was a camera on the wall watching them, but they knew it wouldn't be long before the camera and its footage would be incinerated.  
Cloud turned to Wedge and looked at him with disgust. He looked at the man as an inexperienced inferior.  
"What the hell were you expecting?" He asked with contempt.  
Wedge frowned at having displeased the powerful young man, and backed away to allow Cloud to walk to Jessie and Biggs. Jessie was busy hacking into a console next to the door through which they wanted to pass. Biggs was kneeling beside her, busily rigging another bomb. This one, however, was much larger than the last and had a timer attached to it. Cloud admired the large bomb from behind Biggs. Barret was standing behind them all, facing the direction from which they had come and watching for resistance.  
"Done!" Jessie finally said with satisfaction. She pressed one final button, and the door in front of them slid upward. They looked through it, only to find another identical door and a very surprised guard. The guard was the easy part, falling easily to Cloud's blade. The door, however, took only a little shorter to open than the last. When it finally slid upward, the group was relieved to find that there were no more doors ahead. They had cleared the security checkpoint area, and had now reached the main elevator.  
It was surprisingly deserted around the elevator, and Barret was a little nervous. It was extremely quiet, and only a faint humming could be heard around them. It seemed to reverberate from every direction, and it bounced off of every wall. The result was an eerie effect that made it seem almost as if the entire reactor was breathing. It did little to calm the nerves of the five intruders.  
The elevator opened at the push of a button and opened without incident. The five of them stepped into the crowded space, and Jessie entered the correct floor.  
"How long is this going to be?" Cloud asked impatiently, as the ride downward seemed to take forever.  
"As long as it takes!" Barret answered irritably. "This is an important job, and we're going to do it carefully. If we don't take out this reactor, than we won't be able to take out the others either. These monstrosities are killing the planet, Cloud!"  
Cloud shrugged nonchalantly.  
"I don't care what happens. Let the planet die, it doesn't affect my life. Just make sure I get paid when this is all over." He said, completely ignoring the fact that he knew it would piss off Barret.  
"What the hell do you mean this doesn't affect you? Of course it does! It affects all of us!" Barret yelled at him. He got very angry whenever he argued about this, and he tried to relieve some of it by punching the wall of the elevator. It didn't help. Meanwhile, Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge watched in dismay as their leader thoroughly lost his temper.  
"How fucking stupid can you be?" He asked Cloud, in all seriousness.  
Cloud shrugged again. He was completely unphased by the anger he had instilled in Barret, mostly because he had meant every word he'd said. As far as he was concerned, this whole crusade had nothing to do with him. He just wanted a hefty payoff when it was all over. Seeing how little Cloud cared made Barret even angrier, but he didn't say anything. He knew that his preaching was falling on uncaring ears. Reluctantly, he gave up.  
The elevator ride that had seemed to take forever finally ended, and Jessie opened the door to allow them out. Barret was still pissed off, but he tried to place it in the back of his mind as he checked the area for resistance. He found none, and was actually disappointed that he had nothing to take out his anger on.  
They quickly went down the stairs that had appeared outside the elevator. They wound around the wall of the reactor, occasionally intersecting with a flat maintenance walk. They continued downward by way of the stairs, and soon they reached their destination.  
They were now deep within the bowels of the Mako reactor. It was a very tall and very wide, circular room. The ceiling was domed, and seemed so far above them that they were no longer so surprised at how long the elevator ride had taken. The green haze that they had become accustomed to being in the air of Midgar now hung thickly around them. They had entered the extraction point.  
"Wow!" Wedge exclaimed in amazement. He had been impressed before, but now he was completely blown away by what lay in front of his eyes. He had wandered up to the catwalk that stretched from the area right in front of the elevator to the other side of the room.  
He was looking at a gigantic pool of green liquid that was flowing beneath the catwalk. It filled the entire bottom of the room. The green haze rolled over the top of the liquid like tiny gusts of wind. The liquid was so brilliantly reflective of the artificial light that illuminated the room that it appeared to glow.  
"What is it?" Wedge asked to anyone that could hear him.  
Barret walked up next to him, now thoroughly convinced that the area was just as deserted as it had been upstairs. He felt it was safe to stop and admire the scene, at least for a little while.  
"That, my friend, is Mako." He answered Wedge's question. "The very lifeblood of the planet. If we don't destroy the Midgar reactors, the Shinra will suck it out until the planet dies. We can't allow that to happen."  
Wedge nodded distantly, still staring at the glowing liquid. Cloud, Jessie, and Biggs had gone to the other side of the catwalk to look, but Cloud was the first to look back up again. He was not impressed.  
"Can we just get this over with?" He asked.  
Barret was about to yell at him again, then thought better of it. Cloud was insolent and impatient, but he was right. They needed to get moving.  
"All right, let's go, Cloud!" He said, making it very clear that it was his decision and not Cloud's. "Everyone else go back up to the elevator and wait for us. We'll do this as quickly as possible."  
Biggs handed his bomb to Cloud, almost sad that his creation would be vaporized in a short time.  
"You know how to use it, right?" Biggs asked, seriously unsure of whether Cloud did or not. He had never actually showed him, but it was a pretty simple bomb to use. It only needed to be attached and set. Once that was done, they would wait until they had safely made it out of the reactor before remotely detonating it. As backup to that, it could also be set for a ten-minute delay. That was only for an emergency, though. Ten minutes wasn't much time to escape, and if they didn't get out in time, they would become very unlikely (and unwilling) martyrs.  
Cloud nodded, but said nothing. He could have easily insulted the question that he found pretty stupid, but he respected Biggs far more than he respected Wedge. Biggs was skilled at designing almost any kind of weapon. Wedge, on the other hand, had no particularly useful skills as far as Cloud could tell. To Cloud, Wedge was completely useless.  
Barret walked toward the opposite end of the catwalk, and Cloud followed. The others started back up the stairs. Barret walked up to the end of the room, to a console that occupied an area of about 100 feet by 60 feet. It was the biggest array of view-screens and buttons that he had ever seen. It was a little intimidating, but he tried not to let it bother him. He turned around to see Cloud staring at nothing. He seemed disturbed.  
"What's the matter?" Barret asked, without any real concern in his voice.  
Cloud shook his head, and his senses seemed to return to him.  
"Nothing. Sorry." He answered blankly. "This place just brings back some less-than-pleasant memories."  
"I thought that before we came here you said you had never been in a Mako reactor before."  
"No, I've been in one before. It just wasn't this one."  
"Oh. Well, let's get this over and done with."  
Cloud stepped up to the console and stared at the bomb in his hands. There was no real art in doing what he was about to do. All that was required was to fasten it to the console and set the remote antenna. Still, he felt a little apprehensive about it. He leaned up close to the huge console, trying to decide exactly where to put it. He decided on a spot at about the center. The goal was to set a chain reaction that would take down the entire reactor, and it comforted him to get it exactly in the middle of the console. He walked to it and attached the bomb as carefully as he could, letting the adhesive backing stick as best as possible.  
"Ready?" He asked Barret. Barret nodded expectantly. Cloud pushed a switch on the front, and it was done. He walked away from the console and sighed with relief for the first time since they had gotten off the train. That contributed greatly to his surprise when an alarm suddenly started sounding.  
"What the hell?" He shouted. He ran back to the bomb and checked it thoroughly. He gasped in horror at what he saw.  
"It's set for ten minute delay!" He yelled to Barret over the din of the alarm.  
"What the fuck?" Barret answered him with a question, both angry and scared at the same time. "We better get the hell out of here!"  
Cloud nodded, and they both broke into a dash for the stairway. They climbed furiously upward, Cloud beneath Barret. The stairs suddenly seemed a lot vaster than they had before. They made it up the first ladder without incident, but when they reached the first maintenance catwalk they found Jessie desperately pulling at her pant leg.  
"I'm stuck!" She yelled to them. "The others ran ahead to try and take out the guards that are gonna show up now that you set off the goddamn alarm."  
Cloud ran ahead of Barret and reached downward to the area where Jessie was stuck. Her foot was caught between two of the many intersecting girders that formed the walk. He reached between them and gently removed her foot from its trap.  
"Thanks!" She said gratefully, and then ran to the next ladder. Cloud and Barret followed.  
"How much time do we have left?" Cloud asked about halfway up the next ladder.  
Barret glanced at his wristwatch.  
"It's been about three minutes since you started the alarm." He answered.  
Cloud nodded, then decided to respond.  
"I didn't start it. It just happened. It's not my fault!"  
"Whatever, let's just get out of here!" Barret yelled.  
Jessie, who was well above the two men on the ladder, nodded her agreement. They were silent for the rest of the way up the stairs. They were panting with exhaustion when they reached the elevator. As they entered the elevator, Barret checked his watch again. They had five minutes left. He prayed silently that they would make it out of this alive as they began to rise with the elevator. He wasn't even that concerned with the fact that he would die. He was more concerned that no one would finish what they had now begun. One reactor was not enough to stop the Shinra. Every last one had to be destroyed.  
The elevator ride seemed shorter this time, perhaps since it was silent. No fights broke out this time, and they made it without incident. When they stepped out, they had three minutes left. The three of them ran straight through the security checkpoints that had held them up before, and as they rounded the corner beyond them they almost smacked into Wedge and Biggs. In front of them was a large group of dead Shinra bodies. The two of them were holding Shinra rifles. It didn't take a genius to see what had happened.  
"Good work, boys." Jessie said as she ran past them. "Biggs, do you have any more explosives?" She asked when she had reached the wall beyond them.  
"I might." He answered, immediately opening up his backpack to check. He pulled out a small bomb that looked relatively small and harmless. "I have a concussion grenade." He said holding it up for her to see. "But that won't do any real damage." He was actually quite puzzled. He wasn't sure what she wanted it for.  
"That'll do fine." She said reassuringly. "We should be able to blow through this wall with that. That will bring us outside, and I'd much rather go out this way than the front entrance. As soon as this place burns, the cops are gonna swarm the place. And this alarm doesn't help things either."  
Suddenly, the alarm that they had already become accustomed to seemed much louder. Biggs tossed her the grenade, and she quickly pulled out the pin and ran toward him and the others. After a five-second delay it exploded, leaving a good-sized hole in the wall. Flames jumped out at them from around the rubble, but they ignored them. Jessie smiled, and ran through it. The others followed, running as fast as their legs could carry them. Barret didn't say anything, but a quick glance at his watch showed him that they had less than a minute to get as far away from the reactor as possible.  
The hole that they had come through had led them the to the waste dump behind the reactor. They dodged through piles of garbage and scrap metal as they tried desperately to reach the main streets that ran directly in front. They had looped around the side of the reactor, and they all knew that the street was a far enough distance to be safe when the building blew. Each of them ran as fast as was physically possible, drawing strength from the adrenaline that was coursing through their bodies. Wedge was running so hard that the wind put out the fire that had caught to the underside of his pants when he had ran through the hole.  
It seemed like forever before they reached a large waste container next to the sidewalk. It had actually taken them about fifty seconds. Jessie reached it first and dove behind the metal container. The rest dove into spots behind it, using it for cover. Barret was the last to dive behind, just as Jessie yelled, "Get down!"  
Just as Barret hit the ground, the bomb exploded. A shock wave ripped through the console on which the bomb had been attached and vaporized it. It exploded against the walls of the reactor and reduced them to rubble with its sheer force. Every mechanical and concrete component of the reactor was incinerated. The force of the explosion hit against the five mercenaries that had caused it and knocked them on their backs.   
The huge reactor crumbled in on itself as a fireball blasted out of the hole at the top. It lit up the night sky and shook the entire city. Pieces of debris flew everywhere, leaving craters in the ground where they hit. One landed on the train that brought the intruders and destroyed it in an instant. The entire reaction took less than ten seconds, leaving the reactor a dead skeleton of what it had been just minutes before. The explosion was like the concussion wave of a nuclear bomb, and the light and sound reached every part of the city. Not a single soul in Midgar went through those ten seconds without realizing that something major had just occurred. Barret and his companions had left their first mark on the city. It would not be their last.  
  
* * *   
  
Cloud didn't realize that he was in pain until he attempted to lift himself off of the pavement on which he was laying. Every bone in his body ached from exhaustion, and he was completely winded. A cursory glance around him showed that the others were suffering as well. He slowly got to his feet to look into the distance at the reactor that had just ceased to exist. The alarms of police cars were already flooding the night silence. The cars had circled around the reactor, along with maintenance crews and (of course) news reporters.  
Barret had also gotten to his feet, and was already preparing for the final part of their mission: escaping. He brushed himself off and checked to make sure he wasn't seriously injured. He had taken a hard fall when he had jumped to the ground. Everyone else seemed okay, and he decided it was time to get moving.  
"Come on guys. The cops are gonna show up soon. We gotta get out of here before they start wondering." He said. "Let's split up. We'll meet in ten minutes at the main train station. The train there will take us into the slums. I doubt they'll have recovered enough from this to start thoroughly checking people as they get on."  
Everyone else seemed to agree, since no one objected. Barret started off to the road leading to the right, and Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie went the same way, although they stayed far enough from Barret and each other so as not to be conspicuous. Cloud decided to go to the left. The road circled around the city and going either way would eventually lead to the passage that led to the main train station.  
As he approached the downtown area of the city, Cloud was almost surprised by the amount of commotion the reactor had caused. Maintenance crews were running around everywhere, and commoners were standing idly just staring at the wreckage. Traffic had come to a complete halt, since everyone seemed to be more interested in seeing what was going on than actually getting where they were headed.  
He walked along the sidewalk next to some run-down shops, and constantly glanced at the wreckage just as everyone else was. He was actually a little proud of himself at how well he was blending in with everyone else. Actually, he really was interested in seeing the reactor, though not as much as the other people standing around him. Unlike them, he knew what had actually happened. His knowledge made him even more self-satisfied.  
Unfortunately, he was paying more attention to the reactor than he should have, and clumsily walked right into a young woman that was standing in front of a tiny flower shop. He immediately reached down to help her up.  
"I'm really sorry about that, Miss." He apologized politely. "I wasn't paying attention I guess." He looked at her objectively as he said it. She was an attractive young woman, no more than twenty or so, and her face seemed to glow with friendliness. He didn't know why, but there was something very captivating about her. She was dressed in a pink dress, and her hair consisted of a long pony tail hanging behind her head with a pink ribbon, and two very large bangs that draped down either side of her face.  
She was carrying a basket of flowers that had nearly spilled over when Cloud knocked into her. She reached into the basket and pulled one out. Cloud briefly wondered where she had gotten the flowers from, but then forgot about it.  
"It's okay." She said. "I'm not hurt. Did you see what happened over there? You seem pretty interested in it, and everyone here is in a commotion over it."  
He opened his mouth as if to say something and then closed it again. Finally he answered her.  
"I have no idea what happened. You should get out of here you know. You might get hurt with all this chaos happening around you."  
"I think I'll be fine." She answered, which threw him off a bit. He was sure that she would quickly agree with him. "By the way, would you like to buy a flower?" She asked, holding up the flower that she had taken from her basket. It was small, and the petals were slightly wilted, but it was an acceptably pretty flower. "It's only one Gil." She urged.  
He couldn't deny the poor girl, especially for only one Gil. He quickly put his hand into one of his pockets and withdrew five small coins.  
"I'll buy the flower, but I can't give you less than five Gil for it. It just wouldn't be right." He said charmingly.  
As soon as the exchange was made, she smiled. Cloud was immediately taken aback. Before she had been attractive, but she was nothing incredible. But she had by far the most beautiful smile that he had ever seen. Suddenly she seemed like an angel in his eyes. He tried to contain himself, but his composure was completely lost.  
"I'd better get going." He said sheepishly, and turned around with the flower in his hand. He walked away from the girl, turning only once to smile at her one last time. Then he carefully put the flower in his pocket, and picked up speed. He had been set back by the girl, and he certainly didn't want to miss the train.  
He rushed at a very brisk pace to the passage that led to the main train station. He had actually made it the overpass that ran over the train tracks when he was stopped by two Shinra soldiers in front of him. They gestured for him to remain where he was. One of them called out to him.  
"Stay where you are and don't move. Keep your hands where I can see them. You will be questioned on the reactor disaster that has just recently occurred." The soldier yelled to him.  
"I don't know what you're talking about." Cloud yelled back, trying to seem stupid. The soldiers were now running toward him, and he didn't like the situation at all. They were now within a short enough distance that they could see the huge sword that he had strapped to his back. Again, the soldier yelled to him.  
"Remove that sword from your back and place it on the ground in front of you." He yelled, as intimidatingly as he could. It was his fatal mistake. Cloud reached for the sword and unsheathed it, but he did not place it on the ground. Both soldiers had their guns pointing at him, but they had no time to fire before Cloud had slashed them both and their bodies had slumped lifelessly to the ground.  
Nearby soldiers that were patrolling the streets had seen Cloud murder their friends, and were rushing to apprehend him. At first they attempted to shoot at him, but those that did were quickly cut down by the enormous blade of Cloud's sword. Soon, the soldiers began to simply close in on him in an attempt to overbear him. They had him backing against the edge of the overpass, and he was quickly loosing his advantage of surprise. They knew how powerful he was now, and they were being cautious.  
Cloud could hear a familiar whistling noise as the soldiers came ever closer. He waved his sword in front of him to keep them at bay. The whistling was getting closer. He wasn't sure whether the soldiers couldn't hear it or if they were simply ignoring it, because they had not responded in the least to the sound.  
He knew he couldn't keep them away for long. He would be captured and tortured, and he knew he would probably give the others up pretty quickly. He felt a little bad about it, but he had a good idea of what Shinra torture was like, and he knew his own willpower. The whistling was definitely getting closer. In fact, now he could hear the screeching of metal against metal. It was actually approaching a deafening roar now, but the soldiers still ignored it. They continued to advance on him.  
He knew he only needed to hold out for a little longer. He made a final wave of his sword, which pushed them back just far enough. As the whistling and sound of metal on metal final approached the overpass, Cloud knew that he had won. He took one final look at the soldiers in front of him, and then turned his back to them. He took one long breath, closed his eyes, and made a leap of faith.  
  
  



	4. Aftermath

Chapter Two: Aftermath  
  
  
As the train sped away from the main train station of Midgar, Barret Wallace stared out the window at the scaffolding and tracks outside. The beams holding up the tracks extended above the outer wall of the city, allowing the trains their own space for transportation. This train in particular was about to switch to a lower track that would lead into the Sector 7 Slums.  
Barret looked away from the window and walked toward the other three of his group. They had boarded the train right before it had left, but they had left one member short. He honestly wouldn't care if Cloud was left behind and tortured by the Shinra. The prick deserved it. The only thing that bothered him was the fact that Cloud knew more than Barret was comfortable with about their little insurrection, and he would just as soon tell it to the Shinra. He tried not to worry about it, though, because there was nothing he could do about it.  
They were the only passengers aboard the car, and they could talk with relative confidence that no one would overhear them. Biggs and Wedge were deep into a discussion about the probability that humankind would ever conquer space and reach the stars. Jessie was typing into a computer console next to the door on the left side of the car. She had opened up a 3D map of the city, and she was already planning how they would make their next attack. Barret had already decided that the eighth reactor would be the best target, but it was up to Jessie to decide the past plan of action. She was the only one of them that could hack into the computer and get confidential information on the reactor.  
Wedge had become silent for a moment, and then suddenly became somber.  
"I wonder why Cloud didn't make it. I hope he's okay." He said, with earnest concern for his new idol.  
"Who cares what happened to him." Barret answered coldly. "All he cares about is money. He doesn't stand for anything that we do. He lives only for himself. I hired him because I respect his skills, but his loyalty is questionable at best. As far as I'm concerned, if he doesn't think that making this train ride is important enough, than he can go fuck himself."  
When Barret had finished his mini-speech, it became silent again. It was convenient that the only sound they could hear was the steady, rhythmic movement of the train's wheels on the tracks and the occasional whistling. It made it easier to hear the loud thump on the top of the train.  
"What the hell was that?" Wedge asked.  
"I don't know, but I 'd like to find out." Barret answered him. He walked to the door on the right side of the train. He was just about to grab the handle and slide open the door when the door slid open of its own volition. Or at least it seemed that way until a human figure swung inside the train. It was silent again, except for the louder noise of wheels on the track because of the open door.  
"Hey Cloud." Wedge greeted the visitor with a childish tone to his voice. "Where have you been?"   
"I like to make an entrance." Cloud said, grinning. It faded when he saw Barret's face. He was on the verge of blowing up at him again.  
"Do you know what would have happened if they caught you?" Barret asked furiously, and then answered his own question. "They would have tortured you and gotten every piece of information out of you. You would have completely betrayed Avalanche. Is that what you want to happen?"  
Cloud chuckled.  
"Is that what you're calling the group? Avalanche? What a gay name!"  
This annoyed Barret even more, as Cloud knew it would.  
"It stands for our plan of attack. When one rock falls from a mountain, it may start an avalanche." He spoke through clenched teeth. "If we destroy one reactor, which we just did, we may start our own avalanche."  
"I get it." Cloud said, still laughing lightly. "But I still think it's gay."  
Jessie had walked to the open door, mumbling along the way about everyone's carelessness. It became a lot quieter after she finally closed it. Then she gestured to Cloud.  
"Come here, Cloud. I want to show you something." She said, walking back to her console. Cloud followed her, and soon they were both looking at the map. She pointed to a part of the screen that showed a bunch of intertwining beams that looked oddly familiar, although distorted because of the green hue of the screen.  
"That's where we are now. This track leads into the Sector 7 slums."  
Cloud looked puzzled for a second.  
"But that looks like it leads below the city." He said.  
"It does." Jessie said matter-of-factly. "The top plate of the city is the industrial part. It's divided into eight sectors corresponding with the eight Mako Reactors. Beneath the top plate of the city are the slums, also divided into eight sectors. Barret's house, and our base of operations, is in the Sector 7 slums."  
Cloud still looked puzzled. This was the first day that he had ever spent in the Shinra's capital city, even though he had fought for them for most of his young life. He didn't fully comprehend the city's structure yet.  
"Why do people live under the plate? Why don't they just come up to the top?" He asked.  
Barret walked over to them and entered himself into the conversation.  
"Because those people don't want to give up their homes. That's where they're ancestors lived before the Shinra built that plate for the top part of the city. Those people don't care how polluted their land gets. They don't care that they can't see the sun because they live beneath a giant fucking pizza. They just don't want to give up their land." He said, very emotionally.  
For a minute he thought that perhaps he had gotten through to Cloud, because he was silent. Then Cloud walked away from the computer and Jessie, yawning as he did.  
"Oh well. The quicker I get my money and get away from this crazy city the better." He sighed, and then walked over to a seat to sit down.  
Barret threw his arms in the air and growled. Jessie couldn't help but laugh. Biggs and Wedge simply stared at each other in mild amusement. And the train sped on its way.  
  
* * *   
  
It didn't take the train long to loop downward beneath the upper plate of the city and arrive at the old run-down train station of the Sector 7 slums. The station itself was simply a platform for the train to drop its passengers off at. Next to the station was a huge wasteland of old and discarded trains and train parts. Long ago, when the upper plate and the train systems were first being built, many of the extra pieces were placed there. It had become the discarding area for such pieces since then, and had been affectionately name "The Train Graveyard." It was both a part of the slum's history, and a playground for young (and brave) children.  
As the first car's doors opened, only a few people exited. It was still very late at night, and not many people were coming to or leaving from the slums. On this train, only six people were exiting (Avalanche plus the conductor who was leaving the train for the night) and no one was entering.  
Barret was the first to exit, and as soon as everyone else had gotten off he directed them where to go.  
"In case you nitwits forgot, my house is that way." He said, pointing to his right as he faced directly away from the train. "Make sure you don't get lost, Cloud. You're the only one who's never been down here before."  
Cloud nodded, still taking in the scene that surrounded him. . It was hard to tell how late it was. Artificial light was always necessary in the slums beneath the upper plate, leaving the slums in a constant man-made daylight. He had always heard of Midgar as being an industrious and desirable place to live. What he saw before him was the epitome of urban poverty. There was no pavement beneath his feet. The floor was uncovered dirt. There were a few vagabonds lying around the train station holding liquor bottles to their lips. The few people that were still walking around were wearing clothes made of miscellaneous pieces of fabric that were sewn together. These people obviously had very little. He wondered how Barret was ever going to be able to pay him.  
Barret had already begun walking toward his house, and everyone else had followed. They were not far along the way before they reached a large caged in area. There was a man looking straight up, so Cloud did the same. He didn't realize that he was the only one doing it, since everyone else had seen it before. What Cloud saw was really very amazing. He was looking at a huge tower that extended from the ground within the caged area all the way to the upper plate above them. A maintenance stairway circled around the entire tower all the way up to the platform at the top of the tower, just below the point where the tower met the upper plate.  
The man who had first been staring upward saw that Cloud had done the same. By the look of wonderment in Cloud's eyes, he could tell that Cloud had never seen it before.  
"It's the Sector 7 Pillar." He explained, as Cloud turned away from the awesome sight to look at the man. "It holds up the entire 7th sector of the upper plate. If it ever collapsed, that section of the upper plate would land on top of the slums and kill us all. Kind of an unpleasant thought." He said, chuckling to himself.  
Cloud nodded, but said nothing. This was all very new to him. He nodded again to the man, and then followed the rest of his party as they began to walk away. Barret's house was actually very close to the train station (about five minutes away) and it had always made travel easy for him. As they neared his home, Barret could see that there were young teenagers hanging out on his front porch.  
He immediately pounded his chest, as he did on occasion when he was really pissed off.  
"I told Tifa to keep those goddamn hooligans away from my house and the bar! They're too young to drink and I don't want them at my house!" He yelled angrily.  
The others hung back as he ran up to the group of teens and waved them away from the porch. They were quick to do as he said, especially since he was waving his gun-arm at them. Then, regaining his composure, he calmly walked through the swinging doors that led into the bar.  
Wedge, Biggs, Jessie, and Cloud followed, although the only one who was a little anxious about their return was Cloud. By his yelling, Barret had reminded him that Tifa was going to be there. He hadn't seen Tifa Lockheart since he was a young boy, and he was a little nervous about meeting her again.  
As he stepped through the swinging doors, he immediately saw that Tifa was not so nervous.  
"Cloud!" She said cheerily, running toward him. She practically jumped at him as she hugged him tightly. He embraced her warmly, as he hadn't done for almost ten years. She had gotten a little taller since he had last seen her, but otherwise she hadn't changed much. She was still slender and agile, and she was still very beautiful. Her long, brown hair hung loosely about her shoulders and blew in the breeze. The mere sight of her flooded his brain with long forgotten memories.  
"Hi, Tifa. Long time no see."  
"Wow! It's so good to see you. I got so excited when Barret told me that you were gonna join Avalanche!"  
"Now hold on a minute. I'm real happy to see you, but don't get used to me being around. I didn't join Avalanche, I'm just in this until Barret is finished with his little crusade and can't pay me anymore. Then I'm out of here just as quickly as I came." He said. He hoped he hadn't insulted her, but she had struck a chord by implying that Barret and he had actually formed an alliance.  
Tifa was taken aback, and she let go of her hugging grip on Cloud. She tried not to let his impatience get to her. It had been a very long time since they'd last seen each other. They had a lot of catching up to do.  
"Well, it's still good to see you." She said, although clearly not as cheerfully as before. Cloud saw this and immediately felt bad for lashing out at her. Then he remembered something. He reached into his pocket and withdrew the flower he had bought from the flower girl. It was still in pretty good shape. He handed it to Tifa, who took it with a beaming smile.  
"I bought this when we were on the upper plate. It's a nice flower, and I thought you might like it." He said as he handed it to her. She just smiled, and then hugged him again. He had done more to greet her and apologize for yelling than he could have done with a thousand words. She walked back to the bar, still a little stunned, and prepared a makeshift vase out of an empty liquor bottle to put the flower in.  
Cloud looked around the room he was in. It was the bar area of Barret's house that he had opened to make some money to fund Avalanche. Tifa had conveniently named it the Seventh Heaven bar. The bar was actually quite nice and modern. Behind Tifa was a wall with shelves covered with various liquors and beers. On the right side of the room was a pinball machine, which Wedge seemed to be playing with. Jessie and Biggs had sat down at chairs on the patron side of the bar. Barret had walked over to Wedge, and appeared to be showing him how to work the pinball machine.  
Suddenly, the pinball machine began to lower into the floor. Barret smiled, and Wedge stepped back. He had never been very good at operating the secret elevator, and Barret always wound up attempting to show him how. Cloud had never seen it before and was a little amused by it. Barret brought the elevator back up, but only to ground level so that they could step onto it.  
"Okay, everybody on. Except Tifa. You stay up here and watch for those teenagers. You know the plan anyway."  
Tifa nodded. Wedge, Biggs, and Jessie stepped onto the top of the pinball machine that was now at the level if their feet along with Barret. Cloud was walking to join them, but Tifa motioned for him to stay back. Barret's daughter, Marlene, had joined Tifa behind the bar and was scurrying around like a lost animal. She ran up to Cloud as Tifa approached him. Cloud guessed she was about eight or nine. Tifa held the little girl's hand.  
"This is Marlene." She said, introducing the girl to Cloud. Marlene managed a smile, but it was labored. She was obviously very shy.  
"Hi Marlene." Cloud spoke to her, now on his knees so that he was at her level. "I'm Cloud. Wow, what a pretty little girl you are. You're big old daddy must be very proud." Marlene smiled again, and then squirmed out of Tifa's light grip. She had apparently become tired of that short conversation.  
Tifa grinned, and almost thought of retrieving the young girl, but then thought better of it. She had something more important to do.  
"Do you remember the night before you left to join Soldier?" She asked as if it were a normal, everyday question.  
"Vaguely." He answered. "But that was seven years ago. I must have been about…"  
"Fourteen." She finished. "I know it was long time ago, but try to remember. Can you think of what you said to me?"  
He frowned, and then seemed to go into deep thought. Finally, some memory came to him and he answered her.  
"I think I told you that I'd come back again."  
She nodded.  
"Yeah. You did. Go on"  
"I can't remember anything else."  
"Are you sure?"  
"Yeah."  
She sighed. She thought this conversation was as important to him as it was to her. Apparently it wasn't.  
"You told me that you would rescue me. You were gonna come back and be my knight in shining armor."  
"I did come back. Once"  
"That was with Soldier! And when you left, the whole town was burnt down!"  
"That wasn't my fault! You know Sephiroth did that!"  
"Well he's dead now, so who else am I gonna blame?"  
Cloud shrugged.  
"What's the point of this conversation anyway?" He asked.  
"I need you to live up to your promise! Look at me. I need rescuing! Barret and I have started this revolution, and we can't do it without you. You can't just leave after you get paid. We need you!"  
"I told you. This doesn't matter to…"  
"Yes it does! Don't you see, Cloud? The planet is dying!" She screamed at him. Why didn't he understand?  
"I see someone's been talking to Barret." He replied, in an annoyed tone.  
"Yes I have been talking to Barret, because what he says makes a lot of sense. And if his plans are ever going to happen, we'll need your help. You have to stay!"  
Maybe it was because he had known Tifa for so long and couldn't bring himself to go against his wishes. Maybe it was because deep down inside, he really respected Barret. Or maybe it was because he was just tired of fighting. Whatever the reason, he gave in.  
"All right. I'll think about it."  
Tifa's face of anger and frustration was immediately replaced by a smile.  
"Good. Now go join the rest of them downstairs. You're gonna need to hear about the next mission."  
Cloud nodded, and headed for the pinball machine/elevator. He quickly found the lever that operated it, and pulled it down. The pinball machine sunk into the floor, and he got on as it reached the level of his feet. The basement to which it led was directly under the floor of the bar area.  
Barret had re-furnished his hidden basement to serve as a headquarters for Avalanche. There was a large TV on the far wall from the elevator, and in front of the right wall a personal computer had been installed. On the left wall was a message board with various plans and city schematics on it. It had the aura of a professional headquarters, and Cloud was impressed by it in spite of himself.  
Biggs was using the computer, and had a bomb design opened on the screen. He swiveled around in his chair as Cloud got off the elevator.  
"Hey man." He greeted Cloud. "I think I figured out why my bomb automatically set for timer delay. I wired the damn thing the wrong way. I'm fixing the design though, so don't worry about it happening next time."  
Cloud nodded and walked over to the table in the middle of the room. Wedge and Jessie were watching the news on the TV to find out about the commotion surrounding the bombing. Just as Cloud sat down, the news reporter mentioned that the "local terrorist group Avalanche" was suspected to have orchestrated the bombing. Jessie gasped.  
"Oh my God! They know it was us!" She said with despair, holding her hand to her mouth.  
Barret, who had been busy posting something on the message board, shook his head without turning away from his work.  
"They don't know that we're Avalanche, though." He said calmly. "They have no proof. Right now we're an enigma to the public. It's better that we get publicity this way."  
This seemed to satisfy Jessie, and the look of terror that had occupied her face was replaced by her usual calmness. Wedge turned to look at Cloud.  
"I once thought about being a news reporter. Do you think I would have been good at that, Cloud?" He asked, his idolizing of Cloud painfully obvious in the way he asked it.  
Cloud really wanted to give him a negative answer and tell him what a pain in the ass he was, but somehow he couldn't bring himself to do it. He was through fighting for the day. There was still some level of decency left in his heart.  
"I think you probably would have been a decent reporter." He answered, realizing of course that it wasn't much of a compliment. "But its better that you didn't, because now you're here fighting with us." He added.  
The smile that came across Wedge's face looked as though it spread from one ear to the other. Cloud was immediately glad that he had complimented him. He had forgotten how great it felt to be nice to people. He patted Wedge on the shoulder, and then got up from the table.  
"You're a good man, Wedge." He said, and then walked toward the computer, which Jessie had already commandeered from Biggs. She had brought up a 3D map similar to the one on the train, but this one was a schematic plan of one of the Mako reactors. Cloud leaned over her shoulder to take a closer look. She noticed him, and decided it would be a good time to explain the next mission to him.  
"That's Mako Reactor number five." She explained, pointing to the plan. "That's the one we're gonna blow up next."  
"The same way as we blew up this one?" He asked.  
"Yeah, although we may have a harder time on this one. They're definitely going to have beefed up the security."  
Cloud nodded. It was going to be an even harder job to take out the next reactor, and he was going to need rest for it. He walked back toward the elevator.  
"Well, if no one needs me for anything else then I'm going to sleep." He said, yawning as he did.  
"Go ahead, Cloud." Barret said, still intently facing the message board. "You'll need your rest."  
There were scattered "good nights" from everyone else, and then he finally went back up the elevator. He said goodnight to Tifa and Marlene, found his room, and got in the bed without even changing his clothes. He was fast asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow. He dreamed well that night, although his dreams seemed to center around the events of the day. Most of all, however, he dreamed about a flower girl in a pink dress, with a beautiful smile on her face.  
  
* * *   
  
Cloud woke up early in the morning to the smell of eggs and bacon. It immediately made him hungry, and he went downstairs from his room to find Tifa cooking breakfast on the bar's stove for everyone.  
"Good morning, Cloud." Wedge greeted him enthusiastically. He was already sitting at one of the tables in the bar eating, and he seemed to be thoroughly enjoying it. "I think Tifa's cooking is what keeps me so fat. I can't get enough of it!"  
Tifa smiled.  
"Don't blame me for your fatness." She said, chuckling. "I don't make you eat it!"  
Wedge laughed, and Cloud couldn't help but join in. He looked around the bar. The others weren't there.  
"Where's everybody else?" He asked Tifa.  
She turned away from her frying pan to look at him.  
"Barret is getting a few things together to bring with us, and Biggs and Jessie are putting the final touches on his bomb."  
"Us? You're not coming with us, are you?" He asked, concerned.  
"Yes, I am." She answered indignantly. "Why? Do you think I can't handle it?"  
"No, I just…"  
"Well, I'm coming whether you like it or not. We're all in this together. Plus, I just got a new pair of brass knuckled fighting gloves and I want to try them out on some of those Shinra guards."  
Cloud just stared at her. He had forgotten how powerful and dangerous she had once been. He had gotten out of many a close call with her fighting at his side as a kid. Perhaps having her along would be a good idea.  
Tifa sighed, and turned back to her frying pan. Just then, Barret walked down the stairs. He was carrying a very tired Marlene in his arms.  
"Smells good, Tifa. Making me hungry." He said as he reached the floor. Marlene woke herself up just enough to wave to everyone. Barret sat her down on a chair in front of the bar, then turned to Tifa.  
"Since you're coming with us, I think I'm gonna leave Marlene with one of the neighbors." He said.  
She nodded.  
"I'm sure that's fine. Actually, as soon as everyone finishes eating I think we should get going. The less time we give them to recover from the last reactor the better.  
"You read my mind, Tifa." He said, smiling. He turned around to face Cloud. "How's our resident Soldier member doing?" He asked jokingly.  
Cloud cringed.  
"I told you, I'm not with Soldier any more!" He answered angrily. "I have no loyalty to the Shinra anymore. If anything, you can trust me. As long as you pay me well enough."  
"Whoa! Touchy, touchy." Barret said, laughing. "Speaking of which, I owe you money for the first job." He walked behind the bar and reached into one of the shelves behind it, withdrawing a jar. He opened it and began counting out a bunch of large coins.  
"I think we said 1500 Gil for each job." He said as he counted. "So I'll pay for both right now."  
Cloud shook his head.  
"The last job was harder than I thought it would be. I want at least 3000 for the next one."  
"What?" Barret asked incredulously. "I ain't giving you that much!"  
"Then you don't get my help."  
Tifa turned away from her frying pan and walked over the Barret. She put his hand over his shoulder, which had suddenly gone tense with anger.  
"Let him have the money, Barret. That's the only thing important to him now." She walked back to her food, but frowned at Cloud on the way to it. His face remained serious and unemotional.  
Barret clenched his teeth, but reached back into the jar and counted out more coins. He reluctantly handed them to Cloud, and then walked made his way back up the stairs. They could hear him say, "Dammit. I was saving that money for Marlene," on the way up.  
When Wedge, Cloud, and Marlene had finished eating, they all began to gather outside the house. Biggs and Jessie had brought their bomb upstairs with them, and were confident that it would work without incident. Barret quickly dropped off Marlene with the neighbors, and then returned to the group. His temper had calmed a bit. He walked up to Cloud while Jessie explained the plan of attack to Tifa and the others.  
"Listen, Cloud. I need to ask you a favor." He said softly.  
Cloud nodded.  
"Sure, what do you need?" He asked, still keeping his voice very unfriendly in front of Barret.  
Barret held up a small blue ball that appeared to be made out of glass. Cloud immediately recognized it as a materia crystal, the source of magical energy for casting spells.  
"I've got this materia crystal. I think it's for casting an ice spell. The only problem is I don't know how to use it. I know they show you how to use materia in Soldier so I figured you might know."  
Cloud nodded again.  
"Yeah I know." He said, suddenly much more friendly. Materia had always fascinated him. He reached behind him and withdrew his sword from its sheath. "Watch this."  
He held the sword in front of him with his right hand, making sure that Barret could see it. Then he held his right hand over the blade of the sword and closed his eyes. As Barret watched in wonder, a green glowing ball began to emerge from the blade as though it were made of liquid. As it coalesced to form a solid materia crystal in Cloud's hand, Barret held his up to compare the two. They were identical, except for color.  
"How the hell did you do that?" He asked, thoroughly amazed.  
Cloud smiled. He always enjoyed the reaction that people had to seeing that done for the first time.  
"That's how materia works. It fills a weapon with its magical energy and gives the person using that weapon the ability to cast its spell. This one is my favorite: a lightning bolt spell." He explained. When he saw that Barret was still confused, he elaborated.  
"Hold up your gun-arm." He ordered.   
Barret did as he said.   
"Okay. Now hold your ice materia right up next to it."   
Again, Barret did as he was told.  
"Now try to block out all thoughts in your mind. Concentrate only on imagining that material crystal going inside your gun-arm."  
Barret closed his eyes. His brow furrowed as he concentrated, but nothing seemed to happen.  
"Keep trying." Cloud encouraged him.  
Suddenly, as if by magic (which it basically was), the materia crystal merged into the gun-arm and disappeared.  
"Very good!" Cloud approved.  
"I can cast an ice spell!" Barret shouted happily. "I don't know how, but I can. I can just feel it."  
"Part of the materia's power is that it let's you know how to use it only after you've let it merge with your weapon." Cloud explained. "Actually, it can be merged with certain armor, too." He said, pointing to an armlet he had on his wrist. "I've got a curative materia in that one."  
"Thanks a lot, Cloud." Barret said, gratefully. "I've always wanted to know how that worked. That will help a lot against the Shinra."  
"No problem." Cloud answered, and then walked away to join the group.   
They had finished planning and were anxious to leave. Barret did a few final checks, made sure the bomb and hacking equipment were ready, and then set off. The others followed. They reached the station without incident, and soon they had boarded the train. The doors closed, and soon the train was on its way to the surface. Midgar was about to get its second taste of Avalanche's power. The train reached the surface, leveled out on the track for the fifth Mako Reactor, and rode off into the morning sun.  
  



	5. Unexpected Consequences

Chapter Three: Unexpected Consequences  
  
  
The dawn sun gleamed on the shiny metal of the old train as it sped its way toward the number five Mako Reactor. The six members of Avalanche had found a comfortably deserted car near the back of the train, and were patiently awaiting their stop. They had already passed the first three reactors (obviously the first had been skipped over in the train schedule for that day). The train was now beginning its final approach onto the fifth division of the upper plate.  
Jessie was waiting by her usual spot next to the car's computer, busily hacking into some confidential file that the Shinra would probably be horrified to know that she could find. Cloud was watching out the window at the sunrise over Midgar, and Biggs and Wedge had once again fallen into a discussion about the possibilities of space travel. Barret was quietly sitting on one of the seats, and he looked terribly bored. Tifa was sitting in a seat across from him, and she was the only one who seemed excited about what they were about to do. The anxiety that had accompanied the last mission was lost on them for this mission. It just didn't seem as exciting as the first time.  
"I think we're gonna be there soon." Cloud said softly. "We're over the fifth plate right now."  
Jessie nodded, still facing the computer screen.  
"The computer says estimated time of arrival is in ten minutes. We're almost there."  
Barret's head perked up.  
"Everybody get ready. We need to make this one quick and easy, just like last time." He said. "Except for that whole alarm thing." He added, grinning.  
Cloud smiled and nodded.  
"We'll try to avoid that little mishap."  
With that, silence fell over the group again. It remained that way until a gasp from Jessie broke it.  
"Shit!" She exclaimed loudly. "They're doing a background check on all passengers! We have to get out of this car!"  
As if on cue, an alarm sounded. The speakers on the side walls of the train began to speak loudly.  
"Unauthorized passengers on car 17. Security lockdown begins…now."  
"We have one minute!" Jessie yelled to everyone else before the announcement had even gotten to the last word.  
Barret was the first to jump up and run to the door separating them from the next car. He opened it up, and held it open to let the others through. The alarm was still sounding as they ran through, and Jessie looked frantic. She was the only one who knew what a security lockdown implicated. She was almost sure that they had no chance of escaping the train.  
As they all entered the next car, they encountered a ticket collector who was running to check out car number 17 that had been announced. Barret pointed his gun-arm at him, and the man immediately turned around and fled.  
"Come on, we have no time to waste!" Jessie yelled as she ran ahead to the next door.  
The next announcement came just as they entered the next car.  
"Security lockdown on car 17 complete. Phase two begins…now."  
"They're locking down every car!" Jessie yelled over the noise of people in the car that had realized that they were now in the presence of the unauthorized passengers. "We have to jump!"  
"What?" Exclaimed Barret, Cloud, and Tifa almost simultaneously.  
"It's the only way we're going to get away! The guards are probably already on their way down to this car as we speak!"  
"I'd rather deal with the guards then jump off a speeding train!" Cloud retorted, and Barret nodded in agreement.  
"If we don't jump now, the doors will lock and we'll be trapped on this train. How are we going to complete the mission if we don't even get off the train?"  
"She's got a point, Cloud." Barret admitted.  
"If we're gonna do this, we have to do it now!" She yelled.  
Barret nodded. He ran to the side door of the train and, pouring all of his strength into it, managed to pull it open. The other people in the car had backed away in disbelief and let the Avalanche members come through. Barret held onto the wall with his one hand and leaned out to see what he was about to get into. The train seemed to be going incredibly fast, but the ground was within reach. The upper plate was just beneath the tracks, and it was basically flat. They weren't too far from the reactor either. Now was the perfect time.  
Barret took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and jumped. Tifa gasped and put her hand over her mouth, but followed right behind Cloud as he strode toward the door. He quickly did the same as Barret, and soon Tifa had thrown herself off as well. Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge followed. Within three minutes of the first announcement, the entire Avalanche team had managed to escape by throwing themselves off of the train. Perhaps the second mission wouldn't be so unexciting after all.  
  
* * *   
  
Cloud lifted himself off of the ground, and brushed himself off. He looked around quickly, giving his surroundings a cursory glance.  
"Didn't we…" He thought, "…just leave this party?"  
He was surrounded on all sides by junk and garbage. He wasn't far from the tracks on which the train he had just jumped had been riding on. The roads weren't far either. He was in the same junk pile that they had come out of when they destroyed the first reactor. In fact, the whole area looked identical to the first reactor, except for the replacement of the huge "1" on the reactor with a huge "5."  
He caught a slight movement to his left and spun around to face it. It was Barret trudging toward him. He looked like he was okay, although he was cradling his right arm with his left hand.  
"You all right?" Cloud asked.  
Barret nodded.  
"Yeah, just a few scrapes here and there." He lifted his left hand to expose a relatively large gash on his right arm, just above where the skin was grafted to the gun. "That's the only one that really bothers me."  
"Have you seen any of the others?" Cloud asked nervously, since he had looked around again and had seen no one else besides himself and Barret.  
Barret shook his head. He was a little worried himself, but he refused to let it show. His dark brow furrowed as he scanned the area around him, looking attentively for any sign of the others. Cloud walked next to him to look in the same direction as Barret was staring, which he deduced was the way that the train was going when they jumped from it.  
Cloud was startled and jumped a little as he felt a small, warm hand on his shoulder. He turned to look into the eyes of Tifa.  
"Hello." She said, nonchalantly. "Is your ass killing you too, or is it just me."  
Cloud couldn't help but crack a smile.  
"It's just you. I think I landed on my head." He answered, rubbing the sore spot on the back of his neck as he thought about what he had just said.  
Behind Tifa were Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie. They had apparently found each other before encountering Barret and Cloud.  
Barret fidgeted restlessly with his gun-arm. He looked up from it momentarily to eye the others expectantly. They just stared right back at him.  
"Well? Are we gonna get moving or what?" He asked impatiently.  
Cloud nodded, and started off for the train station. Barret grabbed his shoulder and shook his head.  
"Hell no! They're gonna have that entrance blocked off so heavily that a Shinra war-tank wouldn't be able to break through. We'll take the back entrance." He cautioned. Cloud considered this for a moment, and then turned around to head for the garbage disposal area, which was surrounded by the junk pile in which they were now standing. The others simply followed Cloud and Barret, who seemed to know what they were doing.  
They mutually decided that the best way to get in would be the same way that they had gotten out the last time: blowing a good sized hole into the outer wall of the reactor. Jessie and Biggs took care of that task as quickly and as quietly as possible. The entire group entered the reactor, and prepared for a harder fight than the last reactor had given them.  
To their surprise, they encountered very little resistance along the way. Jessie, who had though to take a portable electronic blueprint of the building with her, directed them along backward routes through rarely used hallways. They were greeted with only the occasional guard, and either Cloud or Barret was always ready to quickly end the threat that a guard posed.  
It took them longer to get to the elevator going the back way than it had when they attacked the first reactor, but it was worth it. They had expected to be found and exposed as intruders before they ever reached the elevator. Now, they were just as inconspicuous as ever, and Jessie was relatively sure that the Shinra hadn't even noticed their makeshift entrance yet.  
As the elevator reached the bottom level, the group became apprehensive. Their safe escape depended on Biggs' bomb working correctly this time. If it set itself for ten- minute delay, they would never make it out in time without making a scene and being discovered.  
Carrying the bomb that was essential to their mission's success, Cloud proceeded to the console at the far wall, which was identical to the one that he had destroyed in the first reactor. Barret followed to watch over the operation, just as he had before. Cloud fastened the bomb to the console, making sure to place it the same way that he had in the first reactor. It had done its job well before, although it had blown up quicker than they had wanted it to.  
He fastened the final side, then pressed the initialization switch on the front. It took him at least half a minute of staring at the screen before he was satisfied that it had worked this time. He nodded happily to Barret, who in turn smiled to the others who were waiting on the other side of the catwalk. They nodded their approval to Cloud and Barret, and then to Biggs for his ingenious bomb.  
And so the mission was halfway done. All they had left to do was escape. They made their way to the elevator quickly, and the ride up was short and uneventful. Likewise, they encountered no resistance when they exited the elevator. Barret looked around, rather puzzled. He had expected at least some resistance. Hadn't they even found the dead bodies or their makeshift entrance yet?  
"I don't like this." Barret spoke to Cloud, softly so that the others wouldn't hear. They were excited and caught up in the moment.  
Cloud nodded.  
"It's definitely too quiet. Something's going on here." He unsheathed his sword and held it upright with both hands. "Keep your guard up."  
Barret nodded, and lifted his gun-arm. The group proceeded cautiously to the next hallway, led by Barret and Cloud. When they were still greeted by nothing but still air, Cloud and Barret became even more nervous.  
Barret turned to face the group behind him.  
"I don't think we should go back through the hole we made. I'm starting to think they might be trying to lead us into a trap or something. This is definitely too quiet." He said.  
Jessie, who had been staring at her blueprint, lifted the tiny device so that Barret could see the route that she had plotted out. She pointed to the area that she had just finished plotting.  
"There's a ground-level catwalk directly above the one that you guys crossed to plant the bomb. It leads to the other side of the building, and we can go from there to a ventilation shaft that leads outside. I had considered it as an entry point, but I thought it might be too conspicuous. I think it's our best shot now, though." She explained.  
Barret nodded, and looked to Cloud for his approval. He nodded also, but said nothing.  
"Okay then." Barret said, his command making it final. "We'll go over the catwalk.  
Jessie went ahead to lead them with the assistance of her blueprint. When they reached the catwalk, they were taken aback with awe. It was much closer to the top of the reactor than the one that they had crossed to plant the bomb, and it allowed for a wonderful view of the reactor's interior. The main catwalk led directly to the other side of the reactor, and a separate catwalk branched off to intersect with a maintenance walkway that encircled the perimeter. It was on this catwalk that the last person they expected to see was standing. It was also on this catwalk that their entire mission went straight to hell.  
He was wearing a peculiar dark red suit, which was characteristic of his unconventional taste in clothing. He was noticeably fat, and his belly bulged out such that he appeared to have a rather round build. He had a finely trimmed beard, and a face that seemed friendly enough. His eyes showed the experience that was contained in the mind behind them. He was a smart and powerful man. He was a worthy ally, and a dangerous enemy. He was the President of Shinra.  
Barret recognized him immediately, and lifted his gun-arm to fire. Cloud already had his sword ready to strike if needed. The five soldiers that flanked the President waved their guns menacingly, warning Barret of the consequences if he fired his own gun. The President raised his hand in peace.  
"I would recommend firing that. You wouldn't last long. These are my finest soldiers." He said, completely unshaken by the fact that he was now face to face with a group of people that he knew wanted him dead. He walked toward them slowly but surely, his soldiers trailing behind him.  
He looked at Cloud, studying him. After a brief silence, he spoke again.  
"You are a member of Soldier, are you not?" He asked.  
Cloud shook his head.  
"Used to be. Not any more. How the hell did you know that?"  
The President's eyebrows lifted.  
"Careful there, son. I hope you know who you're talking to." He answered, pausing for his reprimand to sink in. "I can tell from your eyes. They burn with the fire of Mako."  
He turned to Barret, who was using all of his will power to keep from shooting at this man. He was the epitome of evil in Barret's eyes. He represented all that Barret was fighting against.  
"Are you the leader of these worthless terrorists?" The President asked him, as though it were a question he'd ask someone he'd known his whole life.  
"Yes I am." Barret answered through clenched teeth. "And I hope you know who you're talking to. I'm in charge of this group of people that has vowed to stop you from killing our planet.  
"I am not killing…" The President started to defend himself.  
"Yes you are!" Barret interrupted him. "This reactor is taking its lifeblood as we speak! You must realize what these things do. You just don't care!"  
"That's very true." The President admitted. "I don't. But in a few minutes, I won't need to either. You were very stupid in attacking another reactor so soon after your first act of destruction. I've decided that you will all die with the death of this reactor, and with you will go this idiotic idea of yours."  
"You can't do this!" Barret cried to him.  
"Watch me." The President answered coldly. He gestured to his soldiers, who were backing toward the opposite end of the catwalk. They, in turn, gestured to some technicians that had been until this point hiding in the shadows. They emerged with a large mechanic monstrosity trailing behind them.  
The President pointed at it.  
"This was one of my favorite military ventures, before it went haywire and killed most of the technicians that created it. I think it will do well for it to die along with you when this reactor is destroyed. And while it's here, I'm sure it will keep you from escaping." He explained. He then turned his back to them, as they stared in horror at the towering machine that was being rolled toward them by the technicians. The President's soldiers stayed close to keep Barret from doing anything rash.  
"I bid you all adieu." The President said as he walked out the other end of the catwalk. "I do hope this isn't too painful."  
And then he left them. The technicians turned on the mechanical beast and then fled, along with the soldiers, the way that the President had gone. Avalanche was alone with the robot.  
It towered over them, and seemed to be brimming with weapons. It moved forward on treads, much like a tank and just as slowly. As it got nearer to the helpless group, it began to raise its side guns. Tifa turned to run, but she was met with a locked door behind them. They were trapped.  
Cloud acted quickly. He raised his sword into position, and closed his eyes. The others looked with extreme curiosity as he stood steadfastly in the path of the giant robot. It neared ever closer as he began to softly chant unintelligible words. Suddenly, his sword began to glow brightly. The air around him began to crack and sizzle. He raised his head and cried out with all of his might as the powers of elemental lightning began to surge around him. He raised his arms, his right hand still carrying his sword, and the energy that surrounded him followed. As the killer robot neared just within feet of his face, he brought his arms down to point directly at it. The energy surged forward and three long, sizzling bolts of lightning appeared out of the air above him to strike the robot.  
The energy surged throughout the chassis of the mechanical murderer, and smoke billowed from its front side. Cloud tried to shield his face as the robot exploded. The blast blew out the catwalk beneath it, and the parts beneath Cloud's feet gave way. He tripped and slid off the catwalk, grabbing the remaining part of the floor with his left hand to keep from falling. His right hand was still clutching his sword. Tifa screamed and ran to him. She reached down at his dangling body.  
"Reach up to me! I won't let you fall!" She yelled.  
Cloud looked beneath his feet. Fire was billowing out of the floor. The remains of the robot had set off the bomb. The explosion had destroyed the bottom of the reactor and had opened up a hole into the slums beneath the upper plate. He knew the reactor wouldn't last much longer.  
"No!" He yelled back to her. "Go with the others. Get out of here or we'll all die!"  
"I won't leave you!"  
"You have to!"  
A tear rolled down her cheek as she reached futilely for his hand. The sharp edge that he was hanging from was jutting out from the rest of the floor. He was out of reach from her. Barret had run toward her and had his hand on her shoulder. She turned to him, her eyes pleading with his conscience.  
"Isn't there something you can do?" She asked, tears flowing profusely from her eyes.  
He shook his head, a look of concern and sadness in his face. He knew there was no hope.  
"He's too far out. We have to get out of here before this place blows."  
Tifa turned back to Cloud.  
"You can't die now. There's so much I still want to tell you!"  
"I know, Tifa." He answered, struggling to keep his one-handed hold on the floor.  
Barret grabbed her shoulder as a piece of debris dropped from the ceiling, almost hitting her.  
"Come on! We're getting out of here!" He yelled at her over the noise surrounding them. Then he turned his head back to Cloud.  
"Say hello to my wife in heaven, Cloud. You're a good man, and we'll never forget what you've done for our cause."  
"Stop talking like this is the end, Barret. Get Tifa and everyone else out of here okay. I'll be fine."  
Barret nodded, and then dragged Tifa along with him to the door on the far end of the wall that Jessie was furiously trying to open.  
"Take care of her, Barret!" Cloud yelled.  
It was the last thing he had time to say. A sharp explosion beneath them shook his grip. His hand slid off the floor, and his body was let loose. Tifa screamed and turned to hug Barret. Barret turned his head. Even he couldn't bear to watch. The explosion that would kill the reactor raged around them, as Cloud's helpless body descended into the Abyss.  



	6. A Flower in a Field of Weeds

Chapter Four: A Flower in a Field of Weeds  
  
  
"Are you all right?" The voice seemed to come from nowhere, reverberating through Cloud's mind, flooding him with strange new thoughts. His mind was a sea of confusion, and those four words flowed through as he tried to make meaning of them.  
"Can you hear me?" Again, the words flowed through his mind, but this time they took on clearer meaning. As his mind began to return to consciousness, he realized that the words he had heard before had not been in a dream. Someone was talking to him. He attempted to answer, but no words escaped his mouth. He opened his eyes, and was thoroughly surprised by what he saw.  
Standing over him was a young woman that he clearly remembered. She had long, brown hair tied up in a pink ribbon, and her long bangs were draped down the sides of her face. Her cheeks were rosy with the early morning coolness. Seeing that he had awakened, she gave a happy smile. Cloud immediately remembered exactly who she was. He was sure that no one else in the world had such a vibrant smile, or had ever looked so beautiful when they smiled for that matter.  
He smiled back and she giggled happily. He tried to sit up, but a sharp pain shot through his back and he laid back down. She put her hand over his face, and felt the cold sweat that had formed over his skin.  
"Try to get up, but do it slowly and carefully." She said, concerned now that he might be hurt worse than he seemed to be.  
Encouraged by her soothing voice, he again lifted himself with his arms. He felt the pain again, but it was not as strong and it disappeared when he had become fully upright. He looked around him, his eyes beginning to adjust to the light. He was in a building with a very high ceiling. Light streamed through the long, green-hued windows near the ceiling, as well as a very large hole in the roof. All this puzzled him, until he began to realize what had happened. The memories of the reactor explosion came back to him, and he thought to check what he was sitting on top of. Sure enough, he was on top of the scattered debris of the roof, beneath which was a bed of flowers.  
"Where am I?" He asked her, scratching his head.  
"This is my church. It's in the Sector 5 slums." She answered, smiling again. "You fell through the roof and gave me quite a scare." She giggled.  
Cloud shook his head in disbelief, and pointed at the ceiling.  
"So I did make that hole."  
She nodded.  
"Luckily, my roof and flower bed broke your fall. But where did you fall from?" She asked.  
"Sorry about your roof and all but I really can't tell you that." He answered.  
"You fell out of the sky and landed in my church but you can't tell me…?" She started to ask.  
"Maybe I'll tell you some other time." He interrupted. "Right now I just need to get my bearings." He got to his feet and brushed off his pants, feeling a little dizzy as he did so. Reaching down to his feet, he picked up some of the flowers that he had been sitting on top of.  
"I thought flowers couldn't grow in Midgar." He said, looking at the petals on the one he was holding. "But then you sold that one to me when I saw you on the upper plate."  
"Oh you do remember!" She said excitedly, the smile again returning to her face. "I recognized you as soon as I saw you laying there when you fell through the roof. Not many people buy flowers from me nowadays."  
"I can imagine." He said, nodding.  
"Actually, I'm not really sure why these flowers grow here, but they do. They say you can't grow grass or flowers in Midgar, but my flowers grow pretty resiliently here. Only around this church, though. I think it is a sacred place. It's beautiful too." She sighed, looking around the church of which she was so proud.  
Cloud nodded again.  
"It is very beautiful." He replied.  
"Say, do you have any materia?" She asked.  
"Yeah. A few. They're in my sword and my armlet." He answered. "Nowadays you can get materia anywhere."  
"I have one too. But mine is special. It's good for absolutely nothing."  
Cloud looked puzzled.  
"How could it be good for nothing? Maybe you just don't know how to use it." He replied.  
"No, I do. It just doesn't do anything. I feel safe just having it. It was my mother's…" She trailed off. She walked over to another patch of flowers that had not been covered by debris from the roof and began to work at them.  
"Sorry." She said. "I was in the middle of fixing up these flowers when you landed. I just need a minute to fix them."  
Cloud nodded. They both remained silent for a little bit, Cloud trying to recuperate back to full consciousness, and the girl working diligently at trimming the stems of the flowers. After a few minutes, she turned away from her work to look back at him.  
"I just realized that we don't even know each other's names. I'm Aeris. Aeris Gainsborough, the flower girl. Nice to meet you." She said.  
"I'm Cloud. I don't really have an occupation. I do just about everything." He replied.  
"Oh, so you're a jack of all trades." She said, giggling a little.  
"You could say that." He answered.  
She giggled again. He was about to ask her what was so funny when he was distracted by a noise at the door to the church. They both turned to see a man open the door and enter. He was dressed in a black, cleanly pressed suit, and he appeared to be very happy that he had found the two of them there. Cloud began to walk toward him, but stopped in his tracks as vague wisps of recognition came to him. Aeris walked behind Cloud, positioning him between the man and herself.  
"Say, Cloud? Have you ever been a bodyguard?" She asked, whispering into his ear. "You do do everything, right?"  
He ran his hand through his hair, trying to retain an air of confidence in a situation that was beginning to be confused by.  
"Yeah, that's right." He answered.  
"Then get me out of here. Take me home."  
He contemplated this for a few seconds, still watching the interloper who had come through the door as he began to approach the two of them.  
"All right, I'll do it." He finally answered. "But it'll cost you."  
"I have nothing to give you. I'm only a flower girl." She said as sweetly and innocently as possible. He said nothing, but the look on his face convinced her that he was not going to accept that as an excuse.  
"Okay fine." She finally said. "How about if I go out with you once?"  
Cloud thought about this again, and then nodded. He stepped away from her to confront the mysterious intruder. He still looked vaguely familiar, but Cloud could not identify him. As he approached the man, another man dressed in a black suit similar to the one the first man was wearing entered the door. He was followed by a small group of Shinra soldiers.  
"I don't know who you are, but…" Cloud began.  
"You don't know me?" The man interrupted, "I know you."  
Perhaps it was the man's voice, or simply seeing him speak, but for some reason the wisps of vague memory that Cloud had of this man finally coalesced into a firm remembrance. He knew this man.  
"Yes I do know you." Cloud said distantly. "That uniform…"  
The second man that had entered the door approached Cloud, then turned to the first man and spoke.  
"Hey Reno. Do you want this one taken out?" He asked.  
"I haven't decided yet, Rude." Reno answered. He recognized the other man as well. They brought back very unpleasant memories.  
Aeris leaned around Cloud's back, behind which she had been hiding.  
"Please don't fight in here. This is a sacred place, and I don't want you to ruin the flowers." She pleaded with them. Reno and Rude ignored her, and began to walk ever closer to Cloud. He was the only obstacle in their way. Cloud saw that they were getting too close for comfort and began to back away.  
Aeris looked behind her, and then back to Cloud.  
"Come on!" She yelled suddenly, grabbing Cloud's shirt. She ran with him to the back of the church, and disappeared through a door leading to another room. Reno ran toward the door through which they had exited. He turned to call to Rude and the soldiers.  
"Come on! They're getting away." He yelled, and then added, "And don't step on the flowers!"  
He turned back to the door to pursue the two that had fled.  
"They were Mako eyes." He whispered under his breath. Without turning again, he ran through the door, followed by Rude and the soldiers.  
  
***  
  
Cloud and Aeris ran as fast as they could to the staircase in the center of the second room. The room appeared to be some sort of abandoned worship area. Cloud again noticed light coming from the ceiling, and he looked up to see another large hole in the ceiling, this one apparently from the degradation of the building itself. In the center of the room was a staircase which may have once led to some sort of attic, but now only led to wooden support beams that remained near the roof of the church.  
"Up there!" Aeris said to him, pointing at the hole in the roof. "We'll escape through that hole."  
Cloud nodded and they both began to dash up the stairs. They were very old, and with every step Cloud was nervous that they were about to give out right beneath his feet. When the two of them were almost halfway to the roof, the two men and their soldiers entered the room. The soldiers immediately began firing.  
Cloud jumped to block Aeris from their shots, but he was too late. The shots barely missed Aeris' legs, tearing into the wooden stairs and causing them to break beneath her. She fell to the ground under the stairway, only fifteen feet or so from the soldiers.  
"Stop shooting!" Reno yelled to the soldiers. "We can't risk hurting the Ancient!"  
The soldiers stopped firing and ran to retrieve their prey, the young girl. They had barely made a few feet in front of them when a large barrel came crashing down on them from above.  
"Quick, Aeris! Get up here!" Cloud yelled to her from the support beams near the roof. He hoped the barrel had bought her enough time to escape them. She ran as fast as she could up the stairs and met up with him at the top. Together they leapt through the hole in the roof, and landed on top of the church.  
Aeris sat down for a second to catch her breath. Cloud looked around nervously.  
"Who were those guys?" She asked, panting a little.  
"Those were the Turks. Recruiting agents for Soldier." He answered.  
"You think they want me to be in Soldier?"  
"Could be. Then again, the Turks also specialize in other less reputable activities. They're not above murder on certain occasions." He said, his eyes still flitting around nervously.  
"That might explain why they were so violent down there."  
"Yeah. On that note, I think we should get out of here." He warned.  
She nodded in agreement, and followed him as he jumped to the building that lay right next to the church. Together they jumped from the roof of each building to the next, until they had reached one with a low enough roof to jump to the ground.  
"My house is this way." She said, pointing ahead to a small market area. "It's right through this market.  
Cloud nodded and followed her lead as she ran through the small huts and trailers that populated the tiny area of commerce. Her house was not far from the market. Cloud was pleasantly surprised to see that her house was just as beautiful as the church had been. It was small, but from the outside it appeared to be cozy enough. To the right of the house was a small garden that only added to the homely feeling of the cottage.  
Aeris opened the door, and left it open for Cloud to enter. She was immediately greeted by her mother, who welcomed her with a hug.  
"Hi, mom. This is Cloud. He's my bodyguard."  
"Oh no! Were you attacked again?" She asked, concerned.  
Cloud felt the necessity to speak up.  
"She was confronted by a group from Soldier. They may have been a recruiting group, or it may have been for some other purpose. I don't know."  
"They were probably after my little girl again. This place just isn't safe anymore." She shook her head. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Cloud. I'm Elmyra, Aeris' mother. Thank you for looking after her."  
"No problem. Although, I really have to go if you don't need me anymore, Aeris."  
"Oh, where are you going?" Aeris asked, showing genuine interest.  
"I have to get to Tifa's bar in the Sector 7 slums. It's called 7th Heaven. You wouldn't by any chance know how to get there from here would you?"  
"Sure I do. Take me with you and I'll show you the way. Um, is Tifa a girl?" She asked.  
"Yes." He answered quickly.  
"A girlfriend?"  
"No." He answered even quicker. "Someone I've known since my childhood and I have to meet up with now. It's very important."  
Elmyra, who had been silent for the last few minutes, spoke up.  
"Aeris will show you how to get there, but for now I think you should both get some rest after what you've been through." She said.  
They both nodded, and Aeris ran up the stairs to her room, leaving Elmyra and Cloud alone in the kitchen and living room area of the house. Elmyra stepped closer to Cloud, and whispered in his ear.  
"I don't know how to say this, but it would be best for Aeris if you left in the morning without her. I'm sure you can find your way, and she'd be safer here with me."  
Cloud nodded, and then walked up the stairs the way that Aeris had gone. She had already gone in her room and sat on the bed.  
"The guest room is the one right down the hall. Try and get some sleep." She said politely.  
"I will. Goodnight." Cloud answered, and then proceeded down the hall to the guest bedroom. He had no intention of sleeping, but he did want to lay down for awhile. He'd wait for Aeris to fall asleep, and then he'd sneak out as quietly as possible.  
He walked over to the bed, sat down with his back to the wall, and closed his eyes. He hoped he'd be able to find Tifa and Barret. He wasn't even sure if they were still alive…and a part of him was afraid of finding out.  
He sighed. All he could do was rest and let the new day arrive. He tried to relax his mind, but he still could not clear his thoughts of the day's events. It had been a long day, and it was going to be a long day tomorrow.  
  
***  
  
It was early in the morning when Cloud finally opened his eyes. Looking at the clock, he cursed himself for having fallen asleep. He got his things together and tried to mentally prepare himself for the worst.  
As silently as possible, he opened the door to the guest bedroom and crept down the hallway. Being in Soldier had taught him more then just fighting. It had taught him stealth as well. He was confident that no one could hear any of his footsteps. Luckily, Aeris's door was closed, so there was no chance of her seeing him either.  
He made it down the stairs and out of the tiny cottage without any problems, and was soon on his way through the market that he and Aeris had passed through the day before. It was mostly deserted because of the time, and Cloud made it through easily and quickly.  
He had made it to Sector 6 before he decided to sit down and rest for a moment. Ahead of him was a small park for the young children that lived in the slums. He was pretty sure that the park led to another market, and Sector 7 beyond that. He got up again and started to walk toward the park when a noise from behind startled him. He whirled around, only to see that he had an unexpected companion.  
"Hi, Cloud." Aeris greeted him meekly. "Did you really think I'd let you go without me?"  
"You're stronger willed than I thought." He admitted. "But I think you'd be better off with your mother. Obviously it isn't safe out here, and I can do just fine on my own."  
"Oh don't be silly. I can handle myself. Besides, you might enjoy my company." She pleaded. "Come on! I need some excitement in my life!"  
"As if being chased by the Turks isn't enough." Cloud answered sarcastically. She simply looked back at him with the cutest puppy dog face that she could manage. He couldn't help himself. He had to smile.  
"Okay, okay. You can come with me for now. But once I find the 7th Heaven Bar, you'll have to leave. I have very important things I need to take care of."  
Aeris shook her head.  
"No, no. It doesn't work that way." She said indignantly. "You're my bodyguard now. You have to watch over me and make sure I stay safe."  
Cloud opened his mouth to say something, and then stopped. She was right. He couldn't go back on his promise. Finally, he just nodded and began to walk toward the park. Aeris ran ahead of him.  
"Oh it's been so long since I've gone on this thing!" She said happily, as she climbed onto a slide shaped like a mog, one of the stranger creatures known to be found outside of Midgar. It was only the head of the creature, and it resembled a bear. The slide went through its mouth. She sat atop its head, and Cloud followed her. Together they sat with their feet dangling over the face of the artificial head.  
She looked up into the sky at the bottom of the plate that sat high above their heads. They were silent, and they could hear the sound of cars driving over the plate in every direction.  
The park was small, with a few things to play on besides the slide. There was a fence behind them that led to the market that Cloud had remembered. Also behind them was a huge mechanical wall that led to the Sector 7 slums when opened. That was Cloud's destination, but he felt it would be better if he relaxed with Aeris a little first. After all, she seemed friendly enough.  
"You were in Soldier, weren't you." She asked, turning to him.  
He nodded.  
"I thought so. You have a presence about you…I can just tell." She said distantly. "What rank were you?"  
He seemed to consider this for a moment, as if trying to recall a distant memory.  
"First Class." He finally answered.  
"Just like him." She sighed.  
"Who?"  
"My first boyfriend. He was First Class also. Before…" She trailed off.  
"Who was he?" Cloud asked. "I probably knew him."  
"It isn't important." She answered, shaking her head. "Don't worry about it."  
He shrugged and decided to stop asking about it. He didn't know why she'd mentioned it, but it seemed to bother her. Just then, the mechanical wall to the Sector 7 slums opened. Cloud and Aeris turned as the wall opened completely, shaking the playground and breaking the morning silence. A small carriage drawn by two chocobos (large chicken-like creatures used throughout the world as beasts-of-burden and racing animals) entered through the now opened wall and turned to leave through the fence leading the market.  
As the carriage passed, a young girl could be seen sitting in the back. Cloud's jaw dropped as he saw it.  
"That was Tifa!" He exclaimed.  
"Her?" Aeris asked, surprised. "Where's she going?"  
"I don't know, but we'd better find out. Let's go." Cloud answered, jumping off the Mog's head and running toward the fence. Aeris followed him.  
"What market is this?" Cloud asked.  
"It's the Wall Market. The Shinra Headquarters lies on the plate just above it." She answered.  
He nodded and ran through the fence, Aeris tailing right behind him. Together they ran ahead into a market that neither of them had ever seen, and a vision of the slums that neither of them had ever imagined.  
  



	7. Into the Slums

Chapter Five: Into the Slums  
  
  
As they entered the Wall Market, Cloud and Aeris were greeted with the very dingiest place of the Midgar slums. The market was a disgrace to humankind. Poor vagrants wandered around every corner. Junk was scattered everywhere. The place was a complete dump. Cloud looked around himself in awe, relatively sure that he had never seen a trashier place in his life. The only reason he didn't turn around and leave as soon as he got a glimpse of the filthy place was that Tifa was caught somewhere in the market.  
"What a dump." Cloud remarked to Aeris, knowing full well what an understatement it was. She nodded, but didn't say anything. She seemed to be captivated, looking around at all of the people scurrying through the market. One particular corner seemed to be especially popular. It was a building with flashing lights and signs everywhere. There was a line of men in front of it.  
"Bet I can guess what that building is used for." Cloud said dryly. "I'm gonna go find out if that's where they were taking Tifa."  
Again, Aeris nodded. The place seemed to intimidate her a little.  
Cloud walked over to the man who was taking tickets in front of the door to the building.  
"Excuse me." He said, as politely as possible. "Can you help me?"  
"Get in the back of the line!" The man sneered at him. Cloud tried to contain his anger.  
"I'm looking for someone." He said.  
"Oh? A particular girl you want, huh? You'll have to pay extra for that." The man answered, paying him very little attention.  
"Her name's Tifa."  
"Damn, you're quick. We just picked her up today, but she isn't here yet. She's probably at Don Corneo's mansion. He's looking for a new bride, and he's been trying out three girls every day…if you know what I mean. I think she's one of today's three."  
Cloud nodded, and turned around in disgust. He walked back to the fence where Aeris was waiting patiently.  
"Well?" She asked.  
"She's at Don Corneo's mansion. If I remember this guy right, he's a real scumbag. I've heard things about him that would make your blood curdle."  
"Well, we have to go rescue her then!" She said, already heading into the mass of people busily scurrying around the market. Cloud ran after her. As they both cleared through the initial group of vagrants near the entrance to the market, they could see the mansion ahead of them. It was relatively big, considering how trashy everything else around it was, and it was ornately decorated.  
The front of the building only had one doorway, which didn't actually have a door but rather had cloth draped over it. Aeris pushed aside the cloth and walked inside, disregarding the fact that she was walking into a very dangerous place. Cloud ran behind her, and entered the building with her. He was sure that she didn't realize the trouble she could be getting herself into.  
There was some sort of a reception desk at the far end of the building, and on the sides were two staircases that led to a balcony and a few second story rooms. It was a small building, and the walls were mostly red, giving the inside a semi-regal look. Aeris approached the reception desk.  
"Can I please speak to Don Corneo?" She asked politely. The man at the reception desk chuckled and looked at her strangely.  
"Well, you got a nice ass so I guess he'll talk to ya. But your guy friend over there's gotta get the hell out. We don't let men in here." He said, giving Cloud a cold stare.  
"Oh, well forget it then." Aeris replied, a little annoyed. She turned around to talk to Cloud.  
"Well, how are we gonna get in now?" She asked, obviously worried. Cloud shrugged.  
"They wouldn't let me in unless I was a girl. I guess we'll have to do this the hard way." He answered, reaching behind his back to unsheathe his sword. Aeris put her hand on his arm to calm him.  
"No, I have a better way." She said, laughing.  
"What's so funny?" He asked, wondering what she could possibly find amusing in their current situation. She kept laughing for another moment or two, and then gathered the breath to answer him.  
"We'll dress you up as a girl!" She answered, still smiling. Cloud shook his head furiously.  
"Oh no! Don't even think about it!"  
"It's the only way, Cloud. You want to help Tifa, don't you?"  
He looked at her dumbfounded. He was sure there had to be a better way. It was too late to make a decision, though. Aeris had already walked over to the reception desk and informed the man that she would return with a cute, female friend.  
As they left the building, Cloud shook his head in disgust.  
"Are you out of your mind?" He asked her angrily. "I'm not dressing up like a fucking woman! In case you haven't noticed, I take pride in my masculinity!"  
She turned to him, looked him right in the eye, and smacked him in the face.  
"That's for swearing in front of a woman." She said indignantly. "Now, do you want to get Tifa or not? Because if you don't care about her enough to dress up like a woman in front of a bunch of scumbags that you don't even know, then why the Hell are we even here?"  
Cloud put his hand to his face where she had smacked him. He turned away from her, and then turned back to look into her face.  
"You're right." He admitted. "If we're gonna do this, then let's go. I think I saw a tailor at the front entrance to the market. We'll see if there's someone who'll make something for a cross-dresser." He turned on his heels and started to head in the direction of the tailor he was almost sure he'd seen. He took a few steps, and then felt compelled to say something else.  
"And never hit me again. That hurt." He added.  
She cracked a grin.  
"See. I'm stronger than I look." She said, flashing Cloud her trademark smile.  
  
***  
  
It didn't take them long to reach the tailor that Cloud had indeed seen before. Aeris was quick to run inside and immediately begin a conversation with the woman standing behind the counter.  
"Do you sell women's clothing?" Aeris asked excitedly.  
The woman chuckled a little at Aeris's anxiety.  
"Yes we do, miss. Are you looking for something in particular?" She asked.  
"Well yes." Aeris answered, smirking. "But it probably isn't something you're commonly asked to make."  
"Oh? Well my father makes the clothes here, and he's always willing to accept a good tailor's challenge. What would you like him to make?"  
"I need you him make a dress for my friend here." Aeris answered, pointing to Cloud. Cloud was standing quietly by the door, his face to the ground. His cheeks were red with embarrassment. The woman turned to him.  
"You're a cross-dresser?" She asked politely.  
Cloud opened his mouth to vehemently deny it, but Aeris quickly answered the question for him.  
"Yes! He's always wanted to dress as a woman, and he thought maybe you could hook him up with a good dress."  
"Well, whatever floats your boat I guess." The woman said, still chuckling to herself. "I'm sure my father would love the chance to do something a little different."   
She looked at Cloud, taking in his size and shape with the skill possessed by the best of tailors. "You are a strong man, I can tell. It will be hard for him to make you look feminine, but I'm sure he can do it. The only problem is that he isn't here right now. My guess is he's out getting drunk of his ass right now. If you search the local bars and find him, I'll make sure he makes the dress for you."  
Aeris nodded.  
"Sure! We'll find him!" She answered, and then grabbed Cloud's hand and dragged him outside.  
As they walked away from the tailor, the nearest pub caught Aeris's eye.  
"That bar is pretty close. He's probably in there." She said.  
Cloud nodded but didn't say anything. He didn't like how this situation was working out. He was willingly finding someone to dress him up as a woman, and he was taking orders from a girl that he had only met the day before. He was always one to keep in control of himself, and he was quickly finding that control slipping out of his hands. If Tifa wasn't in such danger, he would have stopped all this nonsense already. But Tifa was in danger, and as much as he didn't like it, Aeris was right. They had to do everything in their power to help her.  
Aeris was again the first to enter the building, with Cloud following close behind. The bar was dark inside, and there weren't many people inside. The few that were appeared to be just as trashy as most of the people outside that seemed to love this market so much. Cloud wondered how anyone that looked as poor and unskilled as the men sitting at the tables inside could possibly be a talented tailor.  
Aeris's attention was grabbed by a lone man sitting at a bar on the far end of the building. He was hunched over and had his head in his hands, and there were four empty beer mugs next to him. Aeris walked up to him and put her hand on his back. He jumped a little, but then smiled when he saw who she was.  
"Hello there, miss." He greeted her, trying to be polite but slurring the words slightly.  
"Hi." She greeted him back. "My friend and I were wondering, are you the man who owns the tailor shop near the entrance to the market?"  
"Yes I am." He answered. "But I'm not in the mood to be making clothes right now. I'm tired of making clothes. There's no challenge in it anymore, hon. I think you'd be better off finding someone else."  
"Well, we thought maybe we could present you with something challenging. Something you might enjoy making." Aeris said, gesturing for Cloud to approach the man. Cloud walked toward him, still facing the floor as though doing so would save him some of the embarrassment.  
"I want you to make me a dress." Cloud said to the man. The man simply stared back at him, puzzled.  
"A dress? As in a woman's dress?" He asked.  
"Yeah, but one that would fit me." Cloud answered, gaining a little confidence back since the man didn't seem to find anything unusual about his request.  
"Well, yes! Yes, that's perfect!" The man said, excitedly. "That would be a challenge. I've never done something like that before."  
"Do you think you could make us something like that?" Aeris asked.  
"Yes, of course!" The man answered. "Come back to the store with me so I can take your size, young man. I'll have a dress ready for you by tomorrow."  
Cloud nodded, then stayed back with Aeris as the man got up to leave the bar. The man approached the door and gestured for them to follow. Cloud mouthed "just a sec" to him, and the man nodded and headed outside. Cloud turned to Aeris.  
"Do we really want to leave Tifa alone overnight?" He asked nervously.  
"We don't have any other choice, Cloud. Let's get you this dress and find you some shoes and a wig, and we'll be all set for tomorrow. Until then, we'll find an inn somewhere in the market and get some sleep while that guy makes your dress." She answered.  
"Oh, an inn? And who's going to pay for that?" He asked, smiling playfully.  
"Well, since you are my bodyguard, consider the cost as part of your protective duties." She said, giggling.  
Cloud laughed, and the two of them made their way back to the tailor shop arm-in-arm, giggling the whole way.  
  
***  
It didn't take long for the excited old man to take Cloud's size and begin work on the dress. Aeris was able to find a suitable dress for herself, as well as high-heeled shoes for the both of them. She also picked out a blonde wig for Cloud, which he disgustedly agreed to wear. When all was done, Cloud rented a room at the market's one inn, which was considerably cheaper than he'd expected (and also considerably trashier.) However, despite the prostitutes that were hanging around outside of it and the drug dealers that seemed to be hiding in every corner, it presented a welcome enough rest for the both of them.  
When morning came, Cloud felt invigorated and he was anxious to help Tifa, even though it meant dressing as a woman. Aeris was anxious to see how Cloud looked in the dress, and she was also anxious to meet Tifa (although she hadn't mentioned that to Cloud.) Cloud took an hour or so to sharpen his sword and to check up on his materia, and then the two of them headed back to the tailor shop once more.  
When they arrived, the man had showed them the finished product. He had been up all night long fashioning it, and he claimed it to be his finest and proudest work. He thanked them for giving him the idea that allowed for his creative juices to start flowing again, and gave it to them free of charge. Cloud tried it on, and to Aeris's delight he looked quite good in it. With the shoes and blonde wig, he made a convincing and even attractive woman. He absolutely hated it. Aeris put on her dress, and then they were ready to once again enter Don Corneo's Mansion. This time, however, they didn't plan on leaving without Tifa.  
Cloud found it rather difficult to walk in high-heels, and he fell down more than once on the way to the mansion. Aeris tried her best to conceal it every time he fell, and they made it there without incident. When they entered, Aeris approached the desk, behind which was the same man that she had talked to the last time that they had come.  
"I'm back, and I brought my friend with me." She said to him.  
He lifted his gaze up from some papers on the desk to take a good look at the both of them.  
"You're cute." He finally said to Cloud. "You two want to go up there and let the Don decide if he wants you for his bride?"  
"Yes we would." Aeris answered politely.  
"Aright then." He answered. "And cut out that cutey-cutey polite shit. You're a broad, dammit. And the Don hates that kinda shit."  
Aeris nodded sheepishly, as though to say she was sorry without actually saying anything.  
"Aright, follow me." The man said, and led them up a flight of stairs. Cloud remembered the red color motif that percolated through the entire room. Even the rug beneath them was red, and appeared to be made of soft velvet. The man led them to a door near the left side of the building on the second floor. He opened it, and pointed downward.  
"Go downstairs and wait until we call for you. Try to make yourselves at home. Oh yeah, and no bitch fights! I had to break that shit up last week. You girls can really fuck each other up with them nails of yours." The man said. Cloud and Aeris entered the doorway, and the man immediately closed the door. The stairway was poorly lit, and they got an eerie feeling as though they were walking into a dungeon of some sort. That was not far from the truth.  
The basement was dark and dank, and very smelly. It was also cold, and Aeris shivered on the way down. It was quiet, and they could hear their footsteps echoing down the stairwell as they descended. Aeris decided to break the silence.  
"That guy was a real winner, huh." She said sarcastically.  
"He was just as trashy as the rest of the scum in this market. I can't wait to get out of here."   
As they neared the bottom of the stairs, they got a full glimpse of what their exact accommodations were going to be until the Don was ready for them. There was a tattered couch on one side of the room, with a spring popping out of one cushion and stains all over it (of questionable origin.) There was a television on top of an old cardboard box in the far corner, but from a glimpse it didn't appear to work. There was junk all over the room, and an old table in the middle with a bunch of boxes and trash on top of it. Standing on the other side of the room was a young woman wearing a long blue dress. She was facing away from them, apparently observing a picture hanging on the wall. It took Cloud a second to realize who it was, but as soon as he did he was filled with excitement.  
"Tifa!" Cloud yelled.  
"Cloud?" Tifa answered the call excitedly. She turned around, only to be greeted by two women.  
"Where's Cloud." She asked, puzzled. "I just heard him."  
"I'm here." Cloud answered her. "But not quite the way you're used to seeing me."  
"Oh Cloud!" She yelled again, laughing aloud. She ran to him, and hugged him tightly. She practically jumped on top of him as she did so, and he almost fell over. "Thank God you're okay! I thought I lost you!"  
"I was alright. Her church's roof broke my fall." He said, pointing to Aeris who was standing right next to him.  
In her excitement to see Cloud, Tifa really hadn't even noticed that there was someone else with him. She extended her hand, which Aeris shook.  
"Tifa, meet Aeris." Cloud said, introducing them to each other.  
"Nice to meet you, Aeris." Tifa greeted the young woman.  
"The pleasure is all mine." Aeris said, smiling. "I've heard a lot about you."  
"All good things, I hope." Tifa joked. Aeris chuckled, and the two of them walked over to the chairs under the table in the middle of the room. Cloud followed, but stood since there were only two chairs.  
"So Cloud, how did you manage to get yourself dressed as a woman?" Tifa asked.  
"Aeris and I saw you on a cart into the market, and we followed it. We tried to get in here yesterday, but they wouldn't let me in because I'm a guy. So we found a guy to make me a dress, and when we came in a few minutes ago they let us both in." Cloud answered.  
"So you're here to rescue me? Oh, you're such a sweety." Tifa said, smiling.  
"That was the plan, yeah. What are you doing here anyway?" Cloud asked.  
"Well, after you fell into the slums, Jessie was able to get the door open and we escaped the reactor just as it was about to blow." Tifa started, and then cupped her hand over her mouth. "Does she know?" Tifa asked Cloud, pointing to Aeris.  
"Not yet." Cloud answered, looking at Aeris's puzzled face. "But she's with us now. We can trust her."  
"You guys are in that Avalanche terrorist group?" Aeris asked, surprised and scared at the same time.  
"Yeah, we are. But don't be afraid, we're the good guys here." Cloud assured her.  
Tifa nodded.  
"We're fighting for the good of the planet, Aeris. We've been destroying those reactors because they suck the Mako out of the planet to use for the energy. The Mako…"  
"I know." Aeris interrupted her. "I know more about that than you could ever imagine. Yes, I believe that you are the good guys then. Please Cloud, if I could join you…"  
"You would be welcome to, but you'll have to take that up with Barret. He's the leader of the group. Speaking of which, you were speaking about how you got out of the reactor." Cloud said, turning back to Tifa.  
"Yeah." Tifa began again. "After we got out of the reactor we met up with a few people on the streets that seemed to know what they were talking about. Somehow they knew who we were, and they said that they supported our cause. They told us that if we wanted to find out about the Shinra, we should talk to Don Corneo."  
"That asshole? What could he possibly know about the Shinra?" Cloud asked, not quite understanding why they would take the word of a few vagrants on the street.  
"That's what I'm here to find out. Barret sent me to dig up as much as I could from the Don. He's at the bar right now with everyone else, planning our next attack I think. I was waiting for the next two women to show up so the Don could pick one of them to, well…you know. I was gonna try to be the one he picked, so I could get some information out of him before escaping."  
"Well, there's three of us now so no matter who he picks we'll still be able to get information out of him." Aeris said.  
"What if he picks me?" Cloud asked.  
"Just make sure he doesn't get his hand down your pants before you ask the questions." Tifa answered, laughing.  
"Well, I don't like this. It puts the both of you at risk, and I hate to do that. But if Barret thinks that this is the way to go…" Cloud trailed off.  
"Do I sense a hint of respect for him, Cloud?" Tifa asked, smirking. Cloud didn't say anything, but she saw a sneer form on his face.  
"So, how long have you two known each other?" Aeris asked, changing the subject.  
"Since we were kids." Tifa answered. "We were friends back then, but we hadn't seen each other for a long time until Barret hired him to start destroying the reactors."  
"Oh, well that's nice that you got reunited again." Aeris said.  
"Yes, it's been good catching up with you." Cloud said to Tifa, who smiled and turned her head to Aeris.  
"Do you think they're gonna call us up soon?"  
As if on cue, the door opened, and the man from the reception desk called down to them.  
"Come on girls, get up here. The Don is ready to see you."  
"This is it, guys." Cloud said. "Be on your toes, and watch out for his thugs. Whoever he doesn't pick will come up to help the one he does as soon as possible."  
The girls nodded, and then all three of them walked up the stairs. The man led them to another room on the second floor, and escorted them in.  
Don Corneo was sitting behind a large desk. He was wearing a long, red robe that matched the rest of the mansion. He had a blonde pony-tail and a blonde beard, and he appeared to be at least 50 years old, if not more. He was also quite plump, and he had sort of a round shape to his body. To his right and left were two large bodyguards, watching attentively at what was going on around them. He rose from his chair, and walked around the desk to stand in front of the three of them. The man from the reception desk lined them up next to each other, and then turned to the Don.  
"Enjoy." He said quickly, and then left.  
Don Corneo gave each of them a cursory glance. He stroked his beard, as though in intense thought. And then he finally spoke.  
"You are three very beautiful women. It will be hard to pick just one of you."  
And then he was silent again. He paced back and forth, casting a scrupulous eye on each of them, searching for assets and flaws. He stopped in front of Tifa, turned his head to examine the nape of her neck, and then continued pacing again. Next he stopped in front of Cloud. His eyes closed the slits, and for a second Cloud's heart stopped in his chest. But he was suspicious of nothing, and once again continued pacing.  
"You, my dear…" he spoke again, looking at Aeris, "are a fine young woman. But I believe you may be too young for me." He walked to Tifa, and then faced her. "Likewise, you are also young and beautiful. I think I do like you quite much, my dear." He walked over to Cloud, and then faced him. His eyes again turned to slits. "I find you compelling, my dear." He said to Cloud. "You have features that I have never experienced before. You are…beautiful, yet strong."  
He nodded a few times, and then added, "Yes, I have made my decision. I shall take you." He said, looking at Cloud.  
Cloud was taken aback. He had not expected that at all. He held back laughter as he thought of what a fool the Don had to be. To make sure, he pointed to himself and gave an inquisitive look.  
"Yes, you. Follow me into my bedroom. The other two shall be brought back downstairs. I may call upon them later."  
The Don opened the doors to his bedroom, which was in the back of the room they were already in. He gestured for the two bodyguards to leave, and they did so. Holding Cloud's hand, he entered his bedroom, and then closed the doors behind them.  
"You have strong hands, too. I love that in a woman. And oh how your eyes glow!" The Don commented. Cloud simply smiled and nodded.  
"The strong silent type." He observed. "I see. Well, I am a busy man. If you don't mind, my dear, I would like to get started." He sat down on the bed and took his robe off. He was wearing a tunic and loosely fitted pants. He began to remove his tunic, and he gestured for Cloud to unclothe himself as well.  
Cloud laughed. He had tried to hold it in, but he couldn't help it.  
"What is funny, my dear?" The Don asked, insulted that the person that he had given the honor of sleeping with him was laughing at him instead.  
Cloud just shook his head, still laughing, and then in one swoop removed his dress and with it, his wig. Beneath the dress, he was wearing his normal attire. He removed his sword from its sheath, and pointed it towards the floor.  
"Hello, Don Corneo." Cloud said, using some of the sheets on the bed to remove the makeup on his face.  
The Don simply stared at him in disbelief.  
"How…how did you…?" He tried to ask, stumbling over the words.  
"Please shut up. I'm tired of hearing your goddamn voice." Cloud interrupted. "I'm asking the questions now you scumbag."  
At that moment, the door burst open and Tifa entered with Aeris at her side. They looked first at Cloud, and then at the robeless and shirtless Don sitting on his bed. He stared at all three of them in complete horror. They just laughed.  
"Good job, Cloud." Tifa said. "Did you ask him anything yet?"  
"Not yet. I was just about to start." He answered.  
"What is all this?" The Don asked, pulling himself together enough to ask the question.  
"Hey shut the fuck up, asshole!" Cloud yelled at him. "I told you already, I'm asking the questions here. Now tell me, fat ass, what do you know about the Shinra?"  
"I don't know anymore than the average person. What could I possibly know, I'm just an…"  
"I don't buy that." Cloud interrupted. "I have it from a reliable source that you know more about the Shinra than anyone else in the slums." He said, which was a flat out lie, but he hoped it would encourage the Don to tell them what he knew.  
"Yes, Don. Tell us about what the Shinra plan to do about Avalanche." Tifa said. She had a few questions planned that Barret had told her to ask, and she was hoping to get some answers.  
"I don't know anyth…" The Don started.  
"Tell me or I'll rip your goddamn dick off!" Tifa yelled at him, losing her patience.  
Cloud held up his sword.  
"If you don't tell us, then I'll just save her the trouble and slice it off." He said, menacingly.  
"Okay, okay! Please don't hurt me!" The Don pleaded.  
"We won't hurt you, you little pansy. Just tell us what we want to know." Aeris said, trying to add her own contribution of menacing threats to the conversation.  
"The Shinra…the Shinra said something about striking back at Avalanche by getting them back at their own game. I haven't heard much about it, they don't tell me a lot. I have some people that work for me, and I get some information from the Turks, but only to a small extent." He answered.  
"How do they plan to strike back?" Tifa asked.  
"The President's got something big planned." The Don said. "But I really can't tell you…" He trailed off, but Cloud raised his sword, and he suddenly felt compelled to speak again. "Well, the President wants to destroy the pillar that holds up the plate over Sector 7. He's decided that if he destroys a part of the slums and blames it on Avalanche, then he can make them really seem like the bad guys. But this is only tentative planning that I got from a mole inside the headquarters. I doubt that's it's been set into motion yet."  
"Oh my God." Tifa gasped. "They're going to destroy the pillar? That would kill tons of innocent people!"  
"We have to get back to Sector 7." Cloud said. "Everyone is in danger. We have to make sure that they're warned before the Shinra show up!"  
"Yeah, you're right. Our work is done here. We have to get back to the bar and warn Barret. Are you going to come with us, Aeris?" Tifa asked.  
"I'm with you guys all the way." She answered. "I love the Sector 7 slums just as much as everyone else, and I have no intention of letting the Shinra destroy it. I may not have been fighting for your cause before, but I promise you that I have no love for the Shinra."  
"Alright, let's go then." Cloud said, heading for the door.  
"Not so fast, young…ahem…man." The Don said. "I applaud you three for tricking me. It was quite ingenious of you. But no matter what, I always have the last laugh."  
"Oh? And how's that?" Cloud asked.  
"You'll see. I hope you don't mind the smell of the sewer too much.  
Cloud made a puzzled look on his face, but he didn't have a chance to demand an explanation. The Don pushed a button on the side of his bed, and a trap door that spanned most of the room opened up, plunging Cloud, Tifa, and Aeris into the depths below. The Don laughed, and then sat back on his bed, relieved that he had still gotten the last word.  
"Well that was interesting. Amusing even." He said to himself. "But I still would have preferred sex."   



	8. Dark Plans

Chapter Six: Dark Plans  
  
  
It was just before sunset over Midgar as a lone figure stared out of the window to his conference room. He was watching the hustle and bustle of the nighttime city, admiring its beauty and its technological wonder. Not a day went by that he wasn't proud of the city he lived in. Well enough, he was in charge of the company that ran the whole city. He was president of the most powerful company in the world, let alone Midgar. He was President Shinra.  
He stood with his hands behind his back, watching over the city that he governed. He was in his office, which lay at the very top of the Shinra Headquarters building. It was the most important building in the city, because it was not only the center of its politics but also the center of its power.  
He had been just 25 years old when he founded the Shinra Electric Company. He was always the young entrepreneur as a child, but he never had any ambitions to become as successful as he was. That could be attributed to the work of some great scientists. The development of Mako reactors was really what had made him rich, although he'd had success before that in limited areas.  
He scanned across the skyline of the city, at the railroads that ran along the outer wall and at the spotlights that stood erect at the border between each sector of the upper plate. It was a marvel of technology. A true testament to the power of the human race. He looked proudly upon the Mako reactors that were within his view. They had put him where he was today.  
There was never a day that he didn't wake up thanking God for the city that lay before him, because it was his livelihood and the epitome of his pride in the company that he owned. But exceptional circumstances were forcing him to make drastic measures, and it was going to entail a tough decision. He loved the city, but he loved the company even more and he had to do his best to maintain the company's welfare. No terrorist group, not even one as successful as Avalanche, was going to get in his way.  
He had been able to deal with it when one of his reactors was destroyed. It wasn't the first time he'd lost a reactor. They weren't unknown to have problems every once in awhile. One had actually collapsed of its own volition once. But when Avalanche took down the second one, and then escaped to fight another day, it was the last straw. He knew where their headquarters was. Any group as well known as they were couldn't stay hidden for long. They had hit his company hard enough, and now it was time to strike back. It was a tough decision, possibly the hardest in the 61 years that he'd been alive, but he knew it was the only way.  
Behind him was a conference desk, and sitting at it was quite possibly the most talented group of people that he'd ever worked with. They were his chief administrators. They ran the company at his side, and were always his source for unbiased comment, advice, and information. Without them, he knew, Shinra was nothing.  
He was still facing the window, but he knew exactly where each member of his team was sitting. To his left was Reeve, Heidegger, and Hojo. To his right were Scarlet, Tseng, Elena, Reno, and Rude. All were waiting patiently for him to begin the staff meeting that he had called at the last minute, just hours before.  
Reeve was his Chief of Popular Relations. A relatively young man, he was tall, skinny, and very knowledgeable in his field. He was in charge of making sure that the people living in cities controlled by Shinra, especially Midgar, were kept happy and crime-free. If anyone knew the pulse of the city, it was Reeve. The President could always depend on him to let him know how the people were feeling, and how they were likely to react to a new policy or decision.  
Heidegger was the Chief of the Armed Forces, as well as the head of Soldier. A retired general, he had been too old to be a member of the Soldier program. He was, however, an experienced fighter and an excellent strategist. He was an older and very plump man. He had gone a bit senile in his old age, and he was known to laugh at just about everything (in a very voluminous belt of a laugh which, at times, irritated the President), but he knew what he was doing. Most of the major military engagements of the Shinra were left under his control, although he had very little control over Soldier. He was mostly only given control of the army. Soldier was left to those with more experience in it.  
Hojo was the chief scientist of the Shinra, and he was well known throughout the world as one of the most scientifically capable men on the planet. Also an older man, 20 years before he had founded the Soldier program after he discovered that infusing the bodies of human beings with just the right amount of Mako could make them superhumanly strong and exceptionally agile. His discoveries had led to amazing developments in the Soldier program, as well as the development of the Mako reactors that powered the city and had made the Shinra so powerful.  
Scarlet was the Chief Advisor, and she was always on hand to give the President advice on his decisions. A younger woman, she preferred to dress to fit her name and today was no exception. Her long dress gown was a dark red color, and it made her look very attractive. There had been rumors for a long time that she held such a prestigious position because she had inappropriate relations with the President, but such accusations had been vehemently denied by both herself and the President as both sexist and misguided.  
Tseng, Elena, Reno, and Rude were the four members of the Turks. A secret organization established by the President in the early days of the company, the Turks were always on hand to do his dirty work. Tseng had been there since the beginning, and was in charge now. Reno and Rude had also been members for a good amount of time and knew what they were doing. Elena, an attractive young blonde woman, was their most recent addition, and a bit of a rookie. The President was hoping that she wouldn't be insulted if only the men worked on the next assignment that he was about to give them, because it was going to be of utmost importance.  
"I would like to begin this meeting, if you're all ready." He announced, turning away from the window to face his company.  
They nodded, eager to see what the meeting was being held for. Being that it was called on such short notice, it was fairly obvious that it was because of something important, and a major decision had been or was going to be made. These kinds of meetings always got everyone excited, because it was times like these that they got to show their true colors, and demonstrate to the President just how advantageous they could be to the decision making process.  
"Alright then. First order of business is to settle how progress is doing in each of your departments. We'll start with you, Mr. Reeve." He said, formally beginning the meeting.  
Reeve loosened his tie and took a deep breath. He hadn't been expecting to give a progress report at this unscheduled meeting, but as usual he was ready to give one anyway.  
"The people have been showing a lot of concern over the two reactor bombings. We've been getting swamped with calls and mail from people wanting to know of they are in danger from the terrorists or Mako leaks, and such. And, we've been getting a steady flow of calls from people claiming to be Avalanche." He said quickly.  
"Very good, Mr. Reeve. Thank you." The President responded, and then cleared his throat. "I don't think we need to concern ourselves with any calls claiming to be Avalanche, because I assure you the real ones will not call us. However, we currently know their location and I have an idea that may solve all of our problems."  
Reeve raised an eyebrow, but the President held up his hand to hold back his unspoken question.  
"No questions just yet. I will explain in a few minutes, but I will say that this will mainly be a job for the Turks so the rest of you won't need to concern yourselves with Avalanche anymore." He said. Everyone nodded, and he continued, "Now, if we could please hear from Mr. Heidegger."  
Heidegger gave a hearty one of his trademark laughs, his entire body rumbling and even making the table shake a little as he did so.  
"Well, uh, I don't really have anything to report, Mr. President. I wasn't expecting to give one today." He said, obviously a little embarassed.  
"That's okay, Mr. Heidegger but please next time come prepared even if it is not a scheduled meeting." The President commented, and then turned to Hojo. "Dr. Hojo, do you have anything to report right now? I know we haven't really had any major experiments going on lately."  
"Nothing new to report, really." Hojo answered. "The experiments with the specimen from Cosmo Canyon have been making slow, but steady progress. Other than that, the science department is waiting for something new to come along right now."  
The President nodded. "That's what I expected. However, if we are successful in our attempts to catch the so-called Ancient that is living in the slums, then perhaps you will have something more exciting to keep you occupied."  
"Do you mean the late Professor Gast's daughter?" Hojo replied. "How is that going? For obvious reasons, we will all benefit if she is brought in so that I can do the proper experiments. Your dream to find the Promised Land will never come true unless she can be brought to me. She is the last of the Ancients. Our only link to our ancestry."  
"Yes, I know." The President said. "And we have been making our best efforts to bring her into our custody so that you may begin your experiments. However, in the last attempt her capture was prevented by a former member of Soldier, who is as yet unidentified." He said, looking at Reno.  
"Yes, I was unable to capture her, but I will not fail next time. She can only outrun the Turks for so long." Reno said, feeling compelled to defend himself.  
"And we all have faith that you will keep that promise." The President replied, making it clear that he knew Reno's talents, as well as those of the other Turks, and he trusted that they would bring the young woman into custody. "But that is not my major concern right at the moment, although it is still one of our main objectives. I have another, more urgent task for you, which is why I called this meeting."  
Reno shifted anxiously in his seat, as did Rude and Elena. Tseng remained calm. These sort of things didn't get him excited anymore, much as he did love what he did. The other two men still got nervous with anticipation each time, although they had been doing this for long enough that Tseng wondered why. He knew it wouldn't last. Elena, being new to the job, was reasonably excited, as Tseng expected her to be. Unfortunately for her, she was about to find out that this would not be one of the assignments that she'd be allowed to participate in.  
"I want you all to listen to my plan without any comment at first. I will open this up for questions when I am done explaining, but I don't wish to be interrupted while I'm speaking. My plan is going to be controversial among you, and I realize that, but I think when I'm finished you'll realize that it is the best way to do this." The President began. Everyone nodded, and he continued. "You are all obviously aware of the terrorist group Avalanche, and how much of a thorn in our sides they've been lately. I have lost two of my reactors to them, and not only am I very angry but so are the people of Midgar. I am tired of dealing with them, and I want them all dead. We have confirmation that there are at least four or five of them, and one of them is an ex-member of Soldier. I believe he may be the man that you dealt with when you tried to retrieve the Ancient, Reno. This group must be stopped at all costs, or else they will continue to undermine the good of this city." He stopped for a few moments to gauge the reaction of his audience. They seemed to be angered by the very mention of Avalanche. He hoped that anger would help them deal with what he was about to tell them.  
"However," he continued, "I will not make martyrs of them. They have quite a following of fellow anarchists in the slums, and nothing will insight the trash living down there more than the execution of their heroes. Therefore I have decided that I will destroy the very place from which they operate, and make it seem as if they did it themselves. My hope is that we will be successful in not only killing the group, but also convincing the people of the slums that their idols betrayed them in the end. I have confirmation from a reliable source that the group operates out of the Sector 7 slums, so that will be our target." He paused again, long enough to let the others know that they could now ask questions.  
"What exactly do you have in mind, sir?" Reno asked. "I mean, you've told us that you know where they are and that you want us to destroy them, but how do you plan on doing that?"  
"Well, that's the controversial part. Make no mistake, however, I have already made my decision on this and it will be done as soon as possible, whether you agree with me or not." The President answered. "I have decided that you will destroy the pillar that holds up the Sector 7 plate. We will broadcast news stating that this is the suicidal work of Avalanche."  
"You want us to destroy Sector 7?" Reno asked in disbelief. Looking around the room, the President could see that everyone else was just as shocked as Reno.  
"Yes, that is my plan." He replied.  
"But hundreds of innocent people will die, both in the slums and on top of the plate!" Reeve said, clearly very concerned.  
"As I have made clear in the past, I do not care about the people living in the slums. I allow them to live there simply because senselessly killing the poor wouldn't go over well in our worldwide diplomacy. As for the people living above, I will take care of that. We will evacuate Sector 7, claiming that there are Mako leaks." The President replied.  
"I don't like this at all, sir." Tseng said, breaking the silence that he had kept throughout the meeting so far. "I don't feel that any deliberate destruction of this city is justified, even to put an end to Avalanche."  
"Would you rather Avalanche destroy another reactor before we take action?" The President retorted. "I thought I made this clear before, but I'll repeat myself. There is no option here. I want you three to get ready for this mission as soon as possible, and I will do my part in evacuating the upper plate and fabricating the news report." He said, looking at Tseng, Reno, and Rude. "By the way, Elena, I don't feel that you are ready for a mission like this, although I do not mean that in any way as an insult to your abilities."  
Elena nodded, a little disappointed but more than little expectant of hearing that. Reno and Rude looked at each other nervously, knowing that they had no choice but to destroy a part of the city that they loved so much. Tseng remained expressionless, but it was still obvious that he was angry about the decision. He just hoped that the President wasn't making a terrible mistake.  
"Well then, if everyone is clear on this then I think this meeting is over. Everyone besides the three that I have just given orders to can go back to their standard orders. As always, what has been said at this meeting is between you, me, and the four walls." The President said. With those words, the meeting was at its end. His staff got out of their chairs and left the conference room, all shaking their heads with disbelief, disappointment, or a combination of both.  
The President ignored their discontent. He knew that this was the best way, and in good time they would come to know that as well. One way or another, Avalanche would be destroyed and they would be forgotten just as quickly as they had started. He had never tolerated insolence in his life, and that was not about the change.  
He waited until the last of his staff had left, and then he turned to once again look out his window and admire the view of the city. One day he would be in charge of a city even more impressive than this one. One day, he would be in charge of a place that would be so amazing that it would defy imagination. For right now, however, he had to defend the one that he had. As the sun fell below the skyline and the city was bathed in the darkness of night, he sighed with anticipation and hoped that with the beginning of the new day would come the end of a great enemy.  



	9. Every New Beginning...

Chapter Seven: Every New Beginning…  
  
  
Cloud woke up to a horribly pungent odor all around him, and the horrifying sense that he had no idea where he was. He shook his head, and tried to clear his thoughts. It took him a few moments, but he quickly pieced together what had happened. The Don had said something about minding the smell of the sewers. He was pretty sure that nothing but the sewers could smell as bad as where he was now.  
He rubbed his back, which was hurting again.  
"I've been waking up from these little comas way to often lately." He thought to himself.  
Around him there was a dimly lit corridor, made mostly of concrete. The floor was covered in a thin layer of water, which had a disgusting green tint to it. Behind him was a large grating that separated one part of the sewer from the next. In front of him, Tifa and Aeris's bodies lay still, both laying unconscious on their backs. Cloud walked up to Tifa's motionless body and gently shook her back to consciousness. Her eyes opened, and they darted arounf quickly as she tried to figure out where she was.  
"Are you okay?" He asked softly.  
"Yeah I'll be alright. Thanks Cloud." She replied, smiling. His face sparked the memories, and it came to her where they were. She put one hand behind her back and slowly lifted herself up.  
"She didn't wake up yet?" Tifa asked, looking at Aeris. Cloud shrugged and walked over to the other body, placing his hand over her head.  
"Aeris, are you okay? Wake up, Aeris." He said, gently brushing his fingers over her eyelids. Just as Tifa had done, Aeris's eyes opened and darted around quickly. She immediately realized where they were, however.  
"So this is what a sewer smells like, huh?" She asked rhetorically. "Smells worse than the slums up there."  
Cloud chuckled.  
"Looks like the Don had the last laugh. I guess he installed that trap door in his room to dump unwanted company into the sewer, like us." He said. "And it's an easy way to get rid of unwanted trash." He added, pointing to a used condom that was lying on the floor near the grating.  
"This place is really disgusting. Can we get out of here please?" Tifa asked, looking around nervously. She didn't like this place. It was not only horrible smelling, but it invoked claustrophobia as well.  
"If we follow the sewer system for a little while, we should be able to find a manhole." Cloud answered. "Let's get moving. The sooner we get out of here, the sooner we can warn Barret about the pillar."  
Tifa and Aeris both nodded, and together they headed down the corridor ahead of them. The grimy water on the floor sloshed around their feet and made it hard to walk, and the smell was quickly becoming very nauseating. The sewer system was composed of many interconnecting corridors with platforms on the sides to walk across when the system needed maintenance, and the lower area where the actual sewage flowed. As soon as they reached the first ladder that led to the maintenance platform, they were able to keep out of the grime for the rest of the way.  
When they reached the end of the first corridor, Cloud noticed that there was a ladder leading upward. At the top of the ladder was what appeared to be a manhole cover.  
"Looks like that's our ticket to the surface." He said, craning his neck to see all the way up the ladder.  
"Do you have any idea where that manhole is gonna lead us?" Tifa asked. "For all we know it might lead somewhere that's nowhere near Sector 7."  
"No, I think we should be pretty close. Don Corneo's mansion isn't far from Sector 7, and the sewer that we're in leads in the direction of Sector 7." Cloud replied.  
"Well let's get going then!" Aeris said. "We don't have much time."  
Cloud nodded, and then began to climb the ladder. Tifa and Aeris followed behind him. When he reached the top of the ladder, he tried to lift the manhole cover upward but it was jammed into the manhole. He pounded on it with the bottoms of his palms, trying to loosen it. It finally gave way, and he slid it out of the way to reveal the surface. He climbed out, and extended his hand to help Tifa and Aeris get out.  
They were surrounded by junk and shrapnel. There was garbage on the ground everywhere. Stretching for a good 100 yards were old, broken trains. Trains of every type and make were strewn on the ground, some old and some new. Some even appeared as though with some work they might still actually run. Cloud recognized the strange place from the first time he was brought into the Sector 7 slums. They were in the Train Graveyard.  
"It did lead to Sector 7!" Tifa said. "Come on! We have to hurry and warn Barret!"  
The nearest train to the manhole had a ladder propped up on its side. Tifa ran to the ladder and used it to get to the top of the train. She ran to the end and hopped onto the train in front of it. The trains in the graveyard were packed tightly together, forming somewhat of a platform for her to make her way across the field. Seeing what she was doing, Cloud and Aeris followed.  
The graveyard was very densely crowded with trains and train parts, and despite the fact that they had the advantage of jumping from train to train above the ground, it was still very hard to navigate. It took them awhile to get far enough through the graveyard that they could see the train station that they had used to get to Midgar. Once they saw that landmark, they knew they were getting close to the end of the graveyard.  
It seemed to take forever before they finally reached the end of the graveyard. What seemed to be an endless field of trains and debris stopped abruptly in front of a flimsy fence. They climbed over the fence and entered familiar territory. They were now in the courtyard in front of the train station.  
"Which way is the pillar?" Aeris asked.  
"It's that way. And so is our headquarters." Tifa answered, pointing forward. "Come on. Follow me"  
She ran forward in the direction of the 7th Heaven Bar, followed closely by Cloud and Aeris. The bar was about five minutes away from the train station, and she knew it wouldn't be long before they'd reach Barret and let him know of the impending danger. She just hoped he would be able to come up with a plan of some sort.  
As they neared the Sector 7 Pillar, which was about halfway from the station to the bar, they began to hear loud noises and commotion.  
"Do you guys hear gunfire?" Cloud asked, alarmed. "It sounds like it's coming from the pillar.  
The three of them rounded a corner, and stopped in front of the cage surrounding the pillar. A crowd of people had formed around the cage, and they were all looking upward with looks of shock on their faces. Cloud looked upward, just as he had the first time he had come to Midgar. But this time what he saw was not a scene of serenity, but a scene of utter chaos. He could see people exchanging gunfire all along the maintenance stairway, and there was gunfire and explosions coming from the top platform right where the pillar met the upper plate.  
"We're too late." Tifa sighed. "How are we going to stop them?"  
"Are the others up there?" Cloud asked, to no one in particular. An older woman turned to him to answer his question.  
"The Shinra…they just came out of nowhere." She began. "Barret and his friends went up there to stop them. Why don't you go give them a hand, son."  
Cloud nodded, and then tilted his neck to get another good look at the pillar. He saw two people fighting hand to hand on the maintenance stairway not far above them, and one of them looked familiar. Suddenly, the familiar looking one was thrown from the stairway and he came plunging down to the ground. Cloud pushed everyone back, and the body of the man landed with a loud thump on the ground in front of them. Suddenly Cloud realized who it was. It was Wedge.  
"Wedge! Are you alright?" Cloud asked. He already knew the answer, though. Wedge had taken a very long fall, and he'd landed on his back. Cloud was surprised to see that he was even conscious, as he opened his eyes to look right into Cloud's face. He tried to speak, but no words came out. Cloud tried to calm him, but he rolled over and coughed blood onto the ground beneath him.  
"You're gonna be okay, Wedge." Cloud lied.  
"No. No, it's…too late for me." Wedge managed to say. "Help Barret and the others."  
"You did a good job, Wedge. I know that Barret appreciates what you've done for Avalanche." Cloud tried to comfort him.  
"Cloud?" Wedge whispered, using all of the little energy he had left to speak. "Do you appreciate what I've done?"  
"Of course I do, Wedge." Cloud answered, smiling. "I'll never forget what you've done."  
"Th…thanks Cloud." Wedge said, in such a whisper that it was barely audible. He managed to smile, and then his eyes rolled limply into the back of his head. Cloud pressed his ear to Wedge's chest.  
"Is he…gone?" Tifa asked, tears coming to her eyes. Cloud nodded.  
"We have to get up there and help Barret. He can't hold out against the Shinra forever, especially without Wedge's help." Cloud said.  
Tifa nodded, wiping a tear from her eye. She turned to Aeris.  
"Aeris, if you keep going straight ahead you'll reach a bar called 7th Heaven. Inside there is a girl named Marlene. Can you make sure that she makes it to safety?" She asked.  
"Of course, Tifa. Good luck to the both of you." She replied, and then ran off in the direction of the bar.  
"Everyone else get out of the Sector 7 slums. If we can't stop the Shinra, then the upper plate is going to crush this entire sector." Tifa warned.  
The crowd around the cage seemed to contemplate this for a second, and then it dispersed. Most of them headed for the train station. If they could get to the city above, then they'd be safe from any falling plates.  
Cloud ran toward the swinging door in the cage surrounding the pillar and slammed into it with his shoulder. The door swung open, and he and Tifa entered the cage and ran onto the maintenance stairway. Above them they could hear the sound of gunshots grow ever closer.  
Not far from where they had gotten onto the stairway they found two Shinra soldiers guarding the area. One quickly fell to Cloud's sword, and the other was met with a punch to the face by Tifa, who was wearing her precious new brass-knuckled fighting gloves. As they ascended the stairway farther upward, they encountered no Shinra soldiers, but they saw plenty of their bodies lying dead.  
When they had made it about halfway up, they saw another familiar body lying hunched over the railing. Upon closer look, Cloud realized it was Biggs.  
"Biggs!" He yelled.  
"Oh, Cloud. I didn't think you'd make it in time. You have to go help Barret."  
"What about you? Are you okay?" Tifa asked.  
"I'm fine. Go on, help Barret." He answered. As he did so, his grip on the railing slipped and he fell to his knees. Instinctively, his hands dropped to brace himself, revealing the bullet wound that he had been covering with his left hand.  
"You're wounded!" Tifa said, bending over to help him.  
"Forget about me Tifa. I'm going to die no matter what, but if you go help Barret than perhaps the people living in Sector 7 don't have to also!"  
Tifa turned to Cloud, and he nodded. She hated it, but there was nothing she could do. She smiled at Biggs, and he smiled back, slumping into a more comfortable position to die in. Cloud and Tifa continued their journey up the stairway, trying to put out of their minds that they had now lost two of their members. When they had almost reached the top of the pillar, it became three. There Jessie was lying, critically injured. Blood had soaked her shirt, and she was doing her best to stay conscious.  
"Cloud! Tifa!" She called to them, coughing in between saying their names. "Thank God you two are here."  
"Jessie!" Cloud replied. "Oh, not you too."  
"Why, are the others injured too?" She asked.  
"We already lost Wedge, and Biggs doesn't have much left in him." Tifa answered.  
"Well, I'm not long for this world either. When we blew up those two reactors, innocent people died. Perhaps this is our punishment." She sighed.  
"No, Jessie." Cloud replied. "This is just the Shinra oppressing those that oppose them."  
"Go help Barret, Cloud. And you too, Tifa. There's nothing left for me."  
"Goodbye, Jessie." Cloud said. Tifa nodded to her and smiled.  
"It's been a pleasure working with you two." Jessie said, and then rolled over to try and stop her bleeding. Once again, Cloud and Tifa continued to make their way up the stairs. Not long after, they reached the top platform. Barret was fighting two Shinra soldiers, and as Cloud and Tifa approached them both soldiers dropped to the floor dead.  
"Yo Cloud!" Barret called to him. "These motherfuckers are trying to blow up the pillar!"  
"We know." Tifa replied.  
"How are the others?" Barret asked. Cloud lowered his head, and so did Tifa.  
"Ah fuck! They all dead?"  
"Dead or injured." Cloud answered.  
"Shit. Man, this morning everything was fine and now it's all gone straight to hell!" Barret cried. His cries of anger were drowned out by the sound of a helicopter, however. Above them, a chopper with the Shinra logo painted on the side hovered over the platform. Out of it dropped Reno of the Turks, the man that Cloud had escaped from with Tifa. In the center of the platform was a large computer console. Reno ran toward it.  
"What the hell are you doing you scumbag?" Barret yelled to him. "Get the fuck away from there before I blow your goddamn head off!"  
"Watch your language, mister! I'm not going to be talked to that way by a piece of slum filth." Reno replied, smirking.  
"Aren't you the asshole that I had to escape from with Tifa?" Cloud asked.  
"Yeah that would be me." Reno answered. "Minus the asshole part. My name is Reno."  
"Yeah, so why the hell should we care? You gonna try to blow up this pillar? Cause if you are, you're gonna be in for a hell of a surprise." Cloud replied.  
"Oh, on the contrary. You are the ones that are in for a surprise. You see, when I enter the code into this console, it will activate the self-destruct sequence. Once the sequence is started, there's no way to stop it."  
"Not if I stop you first!" Cloud yelled, running toward him.  
Reno quickly flipped a switch on the console and entered the code. A red light started to flash on the screen, indicating that the sequence had begun.  
"That's all, folks. Game over." He said triumphantly.  
"You son of a bitch!" Cloud cried, as he tackled Reno onto the floor. He punched him in the face, and then rolled over to avoid getting kicked. Reno wiped blood from his face, and staggered a bit. It gave Cloud just the chance he needed. He unsheathed his sword and swiped at his opponent. Reno managed to barely dodge the blow, but the end of the blade cut into his arm, leaving a gash. He grabbed his arm in pain.  
"I've had enough of this!" He yelled. "You're all going to die anyway, so there's no sense in staying here any longer." He gestured to the helicopter hovering above him, and it swooped in with an extended rope ladder to pull him up to safety. Tseng peered out of the side of the chopper to observe the helpless group standing on the platform.  
Barret ran to a spot where he had a clear shot at the helicopter and raised his gun-arm.  
"You think you can get away that easily huh? Well let's see how you deal with this!" He yelled, firing on the helicopter.  
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Tseng warned. "You might hurt our passenger." He moved to the side to reveal Aeris sitting beside him, handcuffed to the seat.  
"Aeris!" Cloud yelled. "Barret, stop shooting!"  
"You know that girl?" Barret asked.  
"Yeah, and so does Tifa. Don't shoot at her."  
Barret reluctantly lowered his gun-arm.  
"That's better." Tseng said. "I trust you'll all die quickly when the pillar explodes. I just hope your friends in the slums below are so fortunate."  
Aeris struggled out from behind him and yelled to Tifa.  
"Tifa! The girl is safe!"  
Tseng turned around and slapped her in the face. Cloud and Tifa gasped. Barret growled in intense anger.  
"Don't you ever lay a hand on her again!" Cloud yelled.  
"What are you going to do about it?" Tseng questioned. "She's property of the Turks now. Good day to you now." As he said this, the helicopter turned around and flew out of the range of the Sector 7 plate. Above them, they could see that the explosion had started. Fire was billowing out of the top of the pillar, and pieces of it were raining down on them.  
"We don't have much time! There has to be a way out of here!" Cloud said.  
Barret looked at a construction hook that was hanging from the top pillar. It seemed like it was on a long enough rope to swing them into the Sector 6 boundary.  
"Come on, let's use that rope over there!" He said. He ran toward it, and sat down on top of the hook. Shrugging, Cloud got on his shoulders. Tifa followed and got on top of Cloud's shoulders. Barret moved his legs back and forth a few times, and then finally pushed off with all of his might.  
As they swung downward, behind them the pillar exploded into fragments that shattered everywhere. Without any support, the upper plate began to sag, and then it finally collapsed. The entire plate came crashing down, destroying everything in Sector 7. All of the houses and buildings were destroyed. All of the innocent people that couldn't get out in time were killed. Just in time, they swung safely over the boundary between Sector 6 and 7 and dropped harmlessly to the ground. They could see clearly as the shrapnel and the huge metal plate destroyed what Barret and Tifa had once called home.  
From atop the city above the plate, commotion had overtaken every citizen. Assuming that yet another terrorist act had been committed, large groups of people immediately began assembling around the crater where Sector 7 had once existed. Police cars and ambulances surrounded the area, and chaos ensued as people began to realize that an entire one eighth of their city had been destroyed. And from high atop the Shinra Headquarters in the middle of the city, a lone figure stared at the chaos from the window in his office. As he watched all the commotion and havoc, he couldn't help but smile.  
  
***  
  
It was all gone. Everything. His home and his friends were all taken from him by the Shinra. He had hated the Shinra all his life, but nothing could have hurt him more than what they had done to him now. Barret stared in disbelief at the wreckage in front of him. He was standing next to Cloud and Tifa in the Sector 6 playground, and in front of him were the large doors that separated Sector 7 from Sector 6, or what was left of them anyway. They had been completely destroyed for the most part, and fiery embers were burning off of the wreckage.  
"It's all gone!" Barret cried, tears streaming from his eyes. "They've taken everything from me!"  
"Barret, there was nothing we could do to stop them." Tifa said, trying to comfort him.  
"That doesn't make it any less wrong!" He shouted back. "Everyone's dead. Do you understand me, Tifa? Do you understand me Cloud?" He yelled, made delirious by the intense pain he felt inside. "They're all fucking dead! Wedge…Biggs…Jessie. They're all gone! And…and…Marlene! Oh God, Marlene is gone too!" He collapsed into a sobbing mess.  
Tifa walked toward him to put her arm around him, but he pushed her away.  
"Marlene!" He screamed. He pointed his gun-arm at the wreckage and started firing aimlessly at it. "What is it all for? What the hell is it all for?" He screamed as he shot at the wreckage. After about half a minute of shooting he collapsed to his knees again, sobbing uncontrollably.  
"Barret." Tifa approached him. "I think…I think Marlene is okay."  
"What?" Barret asked, lifting his head.  
"When Aeris was in the helicopter she told me that the girl was okay. I had told her make sure that Marlene was safe, so I'm assuming she meant Marlene." She replied.  
"Thank God for that." Barret said, wiping the tears from his eyes with his arm. "But that still doesn't bring back the others."  
"Nothing will bring them back, Barret." Cloud said. "But that doesn't mean that they had to die in vain. We have to remember that they gave their lives to fight for the planet, and because they believed in you. They died for you, Barret."  
"And we have to ask ourselves if our fight against the Shinra is worth the lives of three good people." Tifa added. "As much as I loved the three of them very much, I think it is."  
Barret nodded.  
"We always said from the beginning that we were willing to give up our lives for the cause. I would have done it just as quickly as they did." He said. "I just wish it didn't have to end this way."  
"Barret, the Shinra have broken the camel's back with this one. We can't let them get away with this." Tifa replied. "If anything, this should make us want to fight them even harder."  
Barret turned to Cloud, his eyes still red and swollen from crying.  
"Are you with us for good now?" He asked. Cloud nodded.  
"I have no intention of letting the Shinra get away with what they've done. I'm taking it personally now." He answered. "And I'm also beginning to think that you may be right about this whole planet thing. Especially since Aeris seems to believe in it. Speaking of which, what are we going to do about her being captured?"  
"They probably took her to the headquarters. We'll never be able to get her out of there." Barret answered.  
"No, I think we might be able to. I've heard stories of people sneaking in there. It's been done." Cloud replied. "We'll have to come up with a plan."  
"Not to sound cold about this, but we've lost three members today." Tifa said. "That makes us a lot weaker. We need as much help as we can get, and Aeris has offered to give us that help. I think it's really important that we get her back as quickly as possible."  
"Before we go rushing into something like that, I want to see Marlene. Tifa, do you know where she is?" Barret asked.  
"I don't know. All I know is that Aeris said she was safe." She answered.  
"I'm guessing she probably took her to her house." Cloud said.  
"Do you know where her house is?" Barret asked.  
"Yeah. Follow me." He answered, and began walking out of the playground area. Tifa and Barret followed. Barret was still shaken up by the turn of events that had just taken place. Seeing Marlene would relieve some of the pain that he was feeling, and he knew it.   
Cloud was anxious to let Elmyra know that Aeris had been captured, since he had a feeling that she might know what to do about it. He wasn't going to sit back and let the Shinra hold onto her. As soon as he was done talking to Elmyra, he was going to make a plan to get into the Shinra Headquarters. It was going to be a tough job, but it had to be done. Cloud knew that saving Aeris would be worth the effort.  



	10. Legacy of an Ancient

Chapter Eight: Legacy of an Ancient  
  
  
Cloud hadn't noticed the first time he'd come there, but Aeris's cottage smelled beautifully of flowers. The garden to the side of the home bloomed with colors of all sorts, just like the church. Cloud ventured to think that it had something to do with Aeris, since flowers weren't supposed to be able to grow in Midgar. Pollution kept them at bay.  
It had been just two days ago that he'd been there, but it seemed like it had been a week ago. So much had happened in the last 48 hours that it hadn't quite sunk in yet. It really hadn't hit him that Wedge, Biggs, and Jessie were dead. Only Barret had been able to fully comprehend the severity, and the finality, of what had happened. It was most important for him to come to Aeris's house, because he knew that the person he wanted to see most in the world was Marlene.  
As soon as he entered, Elmyra ran to Cloud in a state of worried nervousness.  
"Cloud!" She called to him as she ran from across the kitchen. "Aeris said she was going after you, and then she never came back. She never does that. And then she ran in here a little while ago and said it was urgent, and she dropped off a little girl and left again."  
"I'm sorry. I'm sure she would have come home before, but we ran into some problems." Cloud replied. Elmyra put her hand over her mouth.  
"Sector 7…did that have anything to do with you? Oh goodness, Aeris seems to attract trouble from every direction."  
"Yeah, Sector 7 was our fight. Unfortunately we lost it. The Shinra…captured Aeris." Cloud replied, hanging his head after the last word. Elmyra gasped.  
"I knew they would get her eventually! They've been hunting her down her whole life."  
Tifa and Barret had walked in behind Cloud. Elmyra had ignored the fact that they were there before, but now she looked at them in fear. Cloud decided to explain their intrusion.  
"These are my friends. That's Tifa, the girl that Aeris and I were going after." He started. Tifa smiled and mouthed "hello."   
"And that's Barret." Cloud continued. "The girl that Aeris dropped off is his daughter."  
"Marlene!" Barret exclaimed. "She's here? Do you mind if I see her?"  
"Of course not." Elmyra answered. "She's up the stairs in the second room to the right."  
"Thank you very much." Barret replied, and then hurried upstairs.  
Cloud looked at Elmyra when she turned to speak to Barret. There was something unusual about her. Her eyes were…different. Her hair was different. Her face was different. She simply looked nothing like Aeris.  
"Elmyra, we're going to do everything that we can to get Aeris back. We won't let the Shinra keep her for long." Cloud began. "But, do you mind if I ask you a question before we go?"  
"Sure, Cloud. You seem like a good man, and you took good care of Aeris before. I trust that you'll do your best to help her. She seems to have a connection with you." She replied.  
"What is your real relation to Aeris?" He asked. "I know that you aren't her mother."  
"You are very perceptive, young man." Elmyra replied. "No, you're right I'm not Aeris's mother. But I wonder if I should really tell you how I came to be her caretaker."  
"Miss…Elmyra." Tifa started. "You can trust us. We're simple people just like you, and we trust Aeris and she trusts us. She helped Cloud save me, and for that I am in her debt. If there's anything you can tell us that would help us save her from the Shinra…" She broke off, feeling that she had said enough.  
"You're right, child." Elmyra answered. "I have no reason not to trust you. Well in that case, I suppose I should tell you the whole story. You see, there is a reason why the Shinra have been after her for so long."  
"She is different. Special. Isn't she?" Cloud asked.  
"Yes, Cloud, she is. She has been for her entire life. It is her destiny. Both a blessing and a curse, I think. I guess I'll just start from the beginning, and if you don't understand anything I say you can ask me about it when I'm done."  
Cloud and Tifa nodded. Elmyra cleared her throat and began to speak.  
"I've been living here in the Midgar slums my entire life. About eighteen years ago, Midgar declared war on a far away place called Wutai. Did you fight in that war, Cloud?"  
"I enlisted in Soldier a few years after Sephiroth invaded Wutai and won. My first assignments were to help with the continuing clean-up effort after the war." He answered.  
"So then you have a personal experience with it. That's good. You may understand better what happened. You see, about a month after the war started my husband was drafted to go fight. We were both very young back then, and we didn't know what to do. I didn't think I'd be able to care for myself while he was gone, but he said he'd come right back for me. I made him promise that he'd be okay, and he did. And at that time, I thought things would be fine.  
A year later he still hadn't returned. I was doing okay on my own. I got a job putting together weapons in a factory on the upper plate, and financially I was safe. But I was so lonely. Every night I prayed that he would come home and whisk me off just like when we got married. And every morning I would go to the Sector 7 train station and watch to see if any soldiers coming home knew anything about him. It was so interesting to see the people that would be there. People in love, people in fights. Long lost friends meeting again for the first time in years.  
As the days passed, I would become more and more worried. I watched the news everyday, but the reporters always lied saying that we were winning victory over victory against Wutai and the war would be over in mere days. In reality the war would last for eight years. But I believed them, and it made me feel safe I guess. It was better than worrying all the time." She stopped to breath for a second and catch up with herself.  
"Well, another few months passed and I finally received a letter from the Midgar army. It said that my husband was coming home on shore leave, and he'd be able to spend a week with me before being shipped back to the frontlines. I was so happy that he was coming home, even though I was a little disappointed that he wouldn't be able to stay for long. The next day I made sure to go the train station and wait extra long for him. I went to the train station early and stayed there late everyday for a week. Every person that walked off the train looked like him or someone he knew.   
But it was never actually him. I'm sure something important must have come up. Maybe they never let him leave the frontlines. He was a good fighter, and maybe he was too important to let him leave. But for whatever reason, he never came home that week. I waited for a few more days the next week, but after awhile I felt that it was time to give up.  
On the last day that I was going to wait, there was a woman lying on the steps to the courtyard in front of the train station. She looked like she was exhausted, and perhaps she had lost her husband in a battle. You saw that kind of thing a lot during the war. She appeared to be very weak, and it didn't look like she had it in her to get up and move. In her arms she was clutching a young toddler, who looked like she was about four years old.  
When I approached the woman she could hardly talk. She told me her name was Ifalna, and that the girl was her daughter. She said that they had been running from the Shinra, and her journey had led her to Midgar. Her last words were for me to make sure her daughter stayed safe. And then she died there, in my lap right in front of my eyes. I never forgot the features of her tired and worried face, nor the promise that I made to her that day."  
"Wow." Cloud said, speechless. "So you found Aeris and her real mother at the train station."  
"Yes. From then on, I vowed to raise her as my own child. She was old enough already to tell me what her name was. I thought it was a beautiful name, and I began to say it a lot. I had never had a daughter, and it was wonderful to see this new young girl grow in my own home. She would tell me stories about her mother and her father. They were both scientists, and they had always lived in fear of the Shinra.  
Being a simple woman, I never had any reason to hate the Shinra. I always wondered why they had treated Aeris so badly. She never forgave them, because she blamed them for the death of her mother. In some strange way, she blamed them for her father's death as well, although she could never remember how her father died.  
As she grew a little older it became apparent to me that she was no ordinary child. When she was six she began reading, and from then on she loved it. She read all the time, but the only thing that interested her was ancient history. She read all she could about the ancient humans. But she would always tell me that the books were wrong, and of course I told her that she was wrong because she couldn't possibly know more than the people that wrote the books. But somehow, she never believed me. I always felt like there was something she knew that I didn't  
As she got a little older she started to act even stranger. She would talk in her sleep about the fate of the planet. She would tell me that she could talk to the planet, and that she heard voices all the time. Sometimes she wished they would go away, but other times she told me they comforted her. There were times when I wanted to take her to a psychiatrist but I never did. She seemed to be happy in her own little world.  
One day she woke up very sad. When I asked her why, she told me because someone very close to me had become one with the planet. When I asked her what she meant by that, she said that to a human, the person was dead. But to her he would live forever with the planet. I didn't know what she was talking about at first, but a week later I received another letter from the Midgar army. It said that my husband had died valiantly in battle.  
I never asked her how she knew about it. And she never mentioned it again either. She would mention her strange powers every once in awhile as though they were commonplace, but I could always tell that she knew she was special. And she always kept a small white materia with her. She told me that it didn't do anything, but it was special to her because her mother had given it to her."  
"She told me about that too. I thought it was strange." Cloud said.  
"I never understood some of the things she said. That was one of them. I remember one day when she was eight years old, a man from Shinra came to my home. I believe his name was Tseng. He asked me if my daughter had ever exhibited any special powers. I was going to answer him, but Aeris screamed that she didn't have any powers and for him to go away. So I made him leave. He came back once, but he was always polite and he never pressed too hard.  
After that, the Shinra never came for her again until now. They never used force before, which is why it confuses me. I don't know why they would outright capture her."  
"There must be reason why they need her, and soon." Cloud answered. "I believe they may try to use her powers to their advantage. I remember one of the Turks saying that she was an Ancient. Did she ever mention anything like that to you?"  
"Yes. When she told me that the books she read were wrong, she used to say that they contained nothing about the Ancients. When I asked her who they were, she said they were the true ancestors of the planet. She said that she was the last descendant of the Ancients. I used to wonder if that was where she got her powers from." Elmyra answered.  
"Yes, that might be true. That would make sense." Cloud said, scratching his head in thought. "The only thing that's clear to me is that we have to save her from the Shinra as quickly as we can. They may hurt her if we don't"  
"Yeah, Cloud's right. If the Shinra think they can use her for their own means, they will."" Tifa said.  
"Well I hope there's something you can do, Cloud. I love Aeris as if she were my own daughter, and I don't want anything to happen to her." Elmyra replied. Just then, Barret descended down the stairs with Marlene in his arms.  
"Was she okay?" Elmyra asked. "She slept like a baby as soon as Aeris brought her here."  
"Yeah, she's doing great." Barret answered, smiling widely. "Thanks a lot for taking care of her."  
"No problem. I was glad to be of help to all of you, after what you've done for Aeris. And what you're about to do." She replied.  
"So Cloud." Barret began. "Are we gonna try to sneak into the Shinra Headquarters?"  
"I'm sure that's where they're holding her. We'll have the best chances of finding her if that's where we look." Cloud answered.  
"Why don't the four of you spend the night, and tomorrow morning you can try to make your way up to the upper plate." Elmyra suggested.  
Tifa and Barret were going to agree, but Cloud shook his head.  
"We have to get after Aeris as soon as possible. The longer we wait, the less our chances are of getting her back. We have to go now while the Shinra still think we're dead." He said.  
"Well, you better be careful. I want you all to bring my daughter back safe and sound." Elmyra warned playfully, a smile replacing the concern on her face. She was confident that if anyone could save her daughter, it was the group of people in front of her.  
"Listen, I hate to be a nuisance, but could you watch Marlene for a little longer?" Barret asked. "I definitely don't want to risk bringing her along."  
"Yes, I certainly will Barret. I'm sure I'll enjoy the extra company around the house. Just promise me that you'll live to come back for her. She's going to need a father."  
"I don't know if I can make any promises, but for her sake I'll try my best." Barret answered. "Well, if you guys are ready, I am." He continued, dropping so that Marlene could jump to the floor.  
"Thanks very much for telling us about Aeris, Elmyra." Cloud said. "I think it will help us get her back."  
"And it was a very interesting story." Tifa added.  
"Anything to help." Elmyra replied. "Now go save my daughter like the heroes you are!"  
Cloud nodded and smiled politely. Tifa did the same. Barret walked to her and shook her hand.  
"Thanks a lot, ma'am." He said politely.  
"You're very welcome." She said. "But watch it with that gun of yours." He chuckled, and so did everyone else. Cloud opened the door and went outside to smell the flowers once again, and the other two followed him to leave Elmyra alone once more.  
Their trip had become more than just a small-scale war against the Shinra. Now Cloud was involved on a more personal level. The Shinra had hurt Aeris, and they had hurt Barret. They were responsible for the deaths of three people for whom he had great respect, and the deaths of two people he had never met but had been closer to Aeris in her infancy than anyone else. He would stop at nothing to get her back, and then he would make it his mission to kill the Shinra once and for all.  
Perhaps Barret was in this to save the planet, and Tifa was too. Aeris seemed to agree with them. In a way, he did too. But to him, this was about more than just the safety of the planet. This was about people. The Shinra had committed unforgivable injustices against innocent people, and Cloud knew he couldn't let them get away with it. He was a powerful man, imbued with the power of Mako and all of the training that Soldier had given him. He wasn't going to end this until he saw the Shinra die. Their decision to capture Aeris would be their last.  



	11. Into the Heart of the Shinra

Chapter Nine: Into the Heart of the Shinra  
  
  
Cloud Strife sighed as he stepped into familiar territory. It had seemed like just a few hours ago when he'd last been in the Wall Market. In fact, he wasn't far from the truth. Unfortunately, they needed to get to the Shinra Headquarters in order to save Aeris. The Shinra Headquarters lay in the center of Midgar, at the very center of all eight sectors. However, it's entrance pointed in the direction of Sector 6 so it was generally associated with that sector, since it had to be passed through on the upper plate in order to enter the building.  
Tifa had suggested that they see if they could find a way to the Headquarters from the Wall Market, which was located in the Sector 6 slums. Cloud was doubtful of finding any way to the surface from there. The only other alternative would have been the train station in Sector 7, but unfortunately that was no longer an option. So he had little choice but to search for another way in Sector 6.  
The Wall Market was exactly the same as it had been before, although gossip had spread quickly since he'd left. He could hear the conversations of people around him, and every one of them seemed to focus on either the destruction of Sector 7 or the rumor that Don Corneo had accidentally picked a man when looking for a bride.  
Cloud looked around him, and saw that Barret and Tifa were doing the same. He wasn't exactly sure what they were looking for, but the plan had basically been to look for people that looked like they knew something. As far as he could tell, most of the people in the market knew very little. It really didn't surprise him.  
As they continued to walk, they came nearer and nearer to Don Corneo's mansion. Cloud and Tifa couldn't help but laugh at the misfortune that they'd had when they were last at the mansion, and also the misfortune that Don Corneo had. An embarrassed Cloud had to explain the story to Barret, who found it very amusing, especially the part about Cloud having to dress as a woman. He was disappointed that Aeris hadn't had the foresight to take a picture.  
As they neared the mansion they noticed a few children running around what looked to be a dingy back alley behind the market. Cloud wondered why he hadn't noticed the alley before, but then he realized that it normally had cloth draped over the front to hide it from the public eye. The children must have discovered it and removed the cloth. He wondered if there was anything of interest in the alley. He was about to suggest this to the others when one of the children ran up to him.  
"Hey, mister. Want to see something awesome?" The young boy asked.  
Not really knowing what to say, Cloud just nodded. The boy ran into the alley, yelling to some of his friends. Cloud turned to Tifa and looked at her inquisitively. She simply shrugged. Barret did the same.  
Cloud walked into the alley followed by Tifa and Barret, and they immediately realized what had the children so captivated. The alley actually bordered the wall separating Sector 6 from Sector 7. The same wall in which the huge doors were built extended along the entire Sector 6 slums dividing it from Sector 7, and on the other side a similar wall divided it from Sector 5. Inside the alley, if one looked up, they could see the wreckage and burning remains of what had once been Sector 7. In fact, if standing in the right spot, one could see right up to the upper plate. From where Cloud was standing, he could see the Shinra Headquarters. Perhaps they had found a way after all.  
"Do you see what I'm seeing, Tifa?" Cloud asked. She nodded.  
"I think this could be our way to the upper plate. But how are we going to get up there?" She asked.  
The children, catching onto the fact that these three were trying to go up, ran over to a long cable that hung loosely on the wall. The end was frayed, and exposed the wires that ran inside the cable. The electrical currents running to Sector 7 had been shut off after the disaster, so it was no longer a live cable. As the children ran to it, Cloud let his eyes follow the cable upward. It led all the way to the top of the wall. Above that, there were scattered pieces of debris, and they looked as though they could be climbed to reach the upper plate, and the Shinra Headquarters.  
"Can you climb this?" One young boy asked. "You could use it to get up there."  
"I don't like the idea of climbing a cable to get there." Barret commented.  
"Well, I don't know about you, Barret, but to me that cable looks like a shining ray of hope right now." Cloud replied. "I don't think we have any other choices."  
"I think Cloud's right. This is our only hope." Tifa said, nodding. Barret shrugged.  
"Alright, I'll let this be your call, Cloud. I just hope you know what the hell you're doing." Barret replied. Cloud nodded and walked toward the cable.  
He tugged on it lightly. It felt very sturdy. He wrapped his hands around it, and pulled himself off the ground slightly. It was easy to get a grip on. He felt confident that he could climb it, at least to the top of the wall. Once they got there, he figured they could climb across the debris to get the rest of the way. He hoisted himself up again, and began to climb upward.  
Following his lead, Tifa walked to the cable and began to climb it herself. Barret did the same. He found it to be a little harder, mostly due to the fact that his weight was much higher than Cloud's and Tifa's, and not due to lack of strength.  
As he climbed higher and higher along the cable, Cloud became more apprehensive about what he was about to do. He really had no plan beyond reaching the Shinra Headquarters. Once he was there, he wasn't sure what he was going to do. He was honestly unsure of what he was trying to accomplish. Running headfirst into the Shinra Headquarters was suicide, and he knew that. He wanted to save Aeris, but he had no clue how to go about doing so.  
It wasn't long before he cleared the obscurity of the wall. Barret and Tifa weren't far below him. He decided to climb the cable a little farther before moving himself to the debris. From the cable he had a breathtaking view of the scene beneath him. From up there, he could see just how much damage the Shinra had done. At the very bottom on the ground lay scattered pieces of the upper plate. Small fires still burned in various places on the ground where burning debris had fallen.  
Every once in awhile Cloud could detect an area that had not been covered by debris, but these areas were relatively small and were scattered few and far between. The Shinra had done their work well. The slums that over 100 hundred people had once called home had been completely destroyed, and the disaster had taken a good portion of those people down with their beloved place of residence. Cloud usually found himself to be cold and uncaring about things like this, but this particular act made him sick. He couldn't stop thinking about the fact that so many innocent people had died, including three people that in the course of a few days he had become quite close too. He made a silent prayer that Shinra would pay for their heinous crime to humanity.  
He waited until he had gotten a good distance above the top of the wall, and then he swung himself onto the hanging debris. He could now see that the mess of wires and concrete was actually a piece of the upper plate that was still hanging from the top. Climbing it would lead directly to the top, and would place him right in front of the Shinra Headquarters. He took a second to glance beneath him. Tifa was right below him, and Barret wasn't far behind her.  
"Are you alright?" He called down to her.  
"Yeah, I'm fine. Quite a view, huh?" She answered. He nodded, and then turned back to facing upward. He continued to climb the remains of the upper plate. It was still relatively easy to grip onto, and he only lost his grip once, regaining it quickly.  
He was proud of his accomplishment when he finally reached his hand over the top of the upper plate and scrambled over the edge. He rose to his feet and found himself standing in front of the Shinra Headquarters. The entrance was to his left, facing Sector 6. It was night, and the lights of the building illuminated the buildings around it.  
It truly was a sight to see. He stared up it in awe, as Tifa brought herself over the edge and walked over to stand next to him. He stared at it as well, and he couldn't help but let her mouth drop slightly. The building extended far into the sky, looking over the city.   
At the very top was the President's personal office, but the lights were turned out. The lights were on in the lobby behind the front entrance, but there didn't appear to be anyone there. Cloud suspected that people were still prohibited from coming to this area, for fear that they would fall into the gaping hole that was now Sector 7. For that reason, few people were actually coming to the Headquarters until Sector 7 could be replaced.  
Barret finally pulled himself over the edge, panting with exhaustion.  
"Damn that was a climb." He said.  
"Congratulations, Barret. That was the understatement of the day for sure." Tifa said, smiling. He gave her the finger, smiling sarcastically.  
"Cut it out, you two." Cloud reprimanded. "We have to decide how we're gonna get into the building."  
"What do you mean how we're gonna get in? Through the entrance is how!" Barret replied.  
"We can't just waltz in there. It's gonna be heavily guarded." Cloud responded. Tifa nodded in agreement.  
"So, who gives a fuck. Let's go in there and shoot up the place. I guarantee those cowards will give up Aeris in a heartbeat."  
"Barret, we can't go in there shooting and you know it. We wouldn't last against that many Shinra guards. We're only three people."  
"Well, you were in Soldier. You should know this building. Why don't you tell us what you think we should do." Barret said, with more than a little anger in his voice.  
"I may have been in Soldier, but I've never actually been to the Headquarters. Before I joined Avalanche, I had never even been to Midgar. Kind of ironic actually." Cloud answered. "Anyway, I think we should take the back alley. There should be a fire escape entrance back there, and a stairwell that we can take upwards. We'll go as far as we can on the stairs, and then we'll enter the building as stay as low-key as we can."  
"Sounds like a plan to me." Tifa said. "What do you think, Barret?"  
"Well, I hate all this sneaking around bullshit, but I guess I'll go along with it." He answered reluctantly. Cloud nodded, and led them to the alley running behind the Headquarters. It didn't take him long to reach the fire escape door that he was expecting. He pulled at the doorknob, and as expected found that it was locked. Barret gestured for him to move, and then blew the doorknob off with his gun-arm.  
Cloud squeezed his fingers into the hole left by the missing doorknob, and pulled the door outward. The fire alarm went off for a second, but Cloud quickly ran in the doorway, opened up the alarm panel, and ripped out the wires. He hoped he had been quick enough. Without saying a word, he began to climb the stairs followed by his two companions.  
As they rounded each turn of the stairwell, they noticed that the number of the corresponding floor of the building was displayed on the wall. Cloud tried looking at these numbers to gauge their progress, and to keep his mind off of the mind-numbing journey upward.  
Around floor ten their legs began to hurt, and by the time they had reached twenty they were already exhausted. Cloud stopped for a second to catch his breath, but he wasn't terribly phased by the trip. Soldier had made him stronger than a normal man, and along with that came inhuman stamina and endurance. Tifa was also in excellent shape, if not as much as Cloud. She found herself still able to make the trip upward. Barret, on the other hand, bent over and placed his hands on his knees. He wheezed as he tried to breath in gulps of air.  
"Goddamn it, Cloud, when does this stairway end?" He asked. "I'm out of breath."  
"We're at floor twenty right now." Cloud replied. "I want to get to floor fifty-nine before we leave the stairwell."  
"Are you kidding? Why fifty-nine?" Barret asked, in complete seriousness.  
"No, I'm not kidding. And floor fifty-nine because I think floor sixty is the major floor in the building, but I don't want to walk right there just yet." Cloud replied, and continued to walk up the stairs. Tifa followed, and Barret slowly rose back to his feet and began to follow them. Every muscle in his body seemed to ache.  
Cloud didn't stop again until they reached floor thirty. He was a little worn, but still not really letting fatigue get to him.  
"This is tiring as hell, but a good work out." Tifa said cheerfully, sweat beading down her forehead.  
"Barret was on the floor panting.  
"I don't think I can take much more of this." He managed to say through labored breathing. "If I never see a stairway again in my life it will be too soon."  
"Come on Barret, you can make it." Tifa encouraged. "It's not much farther."  
They continued upward, and five floors up Barret spoke again.  
"Tifa?" He called to her.  
"Yes, Barret." She replied.  
"Are we there yet?"  
"Nope. Not much longer."  
After another six or seven floors had been put behind them, he spoke again.  
"Tifa?" He called again.  
"Yes, Barret." She replied, this time with agitation in her voice."  
"Are we there now?"  
"No, Barret. It's really not much longer. I promise."  
"That's what you said last time." He said, but let it end at that. He didn't say anything again for another three floors, and then he spoke again.  
"Tifa?" He said.  
"No, Barret, we aren't there yet! It's just a few more floors!" She yelled back at him, clearly angry now.  
"That wasn't what I was gonna ask." Barret replied. "I was gonna ask if you were tired."  
"Oh." Tifa said sheepishly. "Well, yes. Quite frankly, I'm exhausted. But Cloud said floor fifty-nine, and we're on floor forty-three, so I think I can tough out the rest."  
Cloud was a little tired when he reached the fifty-ninth floor and approached the door. His legs were achy, and sweat had begun to form on his forehead. Tifa reached the floor about a minute after he reached it, and dropped to the floor in triumph.  
"That was exhilarating." She said. It took Barret another two minutes to reach them, but when he did he collapsed in exhaustion on the ground.  
"Never again." He managed to say, before dropping flat to the ground and closing his eyes to rest. Tifa sat down and leaned back against the wall, and Cloud stood where he was. He gave them a few minutes to rest, and then indicated that it was time to go. He opened the door and walked onto the fiftieth floor of the Shinra Headquarters. In front of him two Shinra guards saw him and apparently recognized him.   
One of them yelled something about him being an intruder, and then the both of them ran toward him. He pulled his sword off his back and quickly cut them both down. There didn't appear to be anyone else on the floor. It was quiet and deserted. He searched their two lifeless bodies, and salvaged a few Gil coins and a keycard.  
"This card should give us elevator access at least a few floors up." Cloud said.  
"Oh thank God." Barret replied. "No more stairs."  
There was an elevator not far from where they were, and they used the card to get in.  
"Do you know what floor Aeris is on?" Tifa asked.  
"I have no clue. We'll try asking around on one of the upper floors. We'll see if anyone can tell us where a newly captured person would be taken." Cloud answered.  
The elevator reached floor sixty, and Cloud stepped out followed by Tifa and Barret. There didn't appear to be anyone on the floor, at least until they had walked to the far-left end of the large room. There were a few guards in front a doorway. They were wearing the distinctive red uniforms of the Shinra Elite Guard, and they sparked Cloud's memory of the guards he had killed when they attack the first reactor.  
Barret raised his gun-arm to fire at them, but Cloud reached up to put his hand on the much taller man's shoulder.  
"Let's try to keep quiet as long as we can, Barret. Let me take care of them." He warned. Barret nodded.  
Cloud tried to walk as quietly as possible. Of the many things he had learned in Soldier, stealth was never one of them. In Soldier, no one was ever trained to hide from or sneak up on the enemy. One was trained to approach the enemy without any fear, and the to destroy the enemy without any hesitation. Cloud's instinct told him that stealth would be the better choice in this situation.  
There was an enclosed room sticking out from the south wall of the room. Cloud saw that if he moved behind the room, which jutted out into the rest of the much larger room, the guards could not see him until he jumped out and attacked them. Cloud was confident that by the time they saw him, it would be too late.  
With his back to the outer wall of the small room, Cloud sidestepped his way to the very edge of the jutting wall. His sword was in his hands, and his shoulders were tense with anticipation. With his well-trained ear, he listened for the sound of the shuffling feet of the guards. Simply from hearing the sound, he could tell where they were, without having to see them. He could tell that behind him, there were two guards to his right, a guard toward the middle of the room, and a guard toward his left (the far end of the room from where he was.) It was going to be difficult to take out the guards to his right without giving the other two guards a chance to shoot at him.  
As he reached the very end of the wall, he decided it was time to strike. He moved so quickly that it took the guards a few seconds to even realize that they were no longer alone in the room. He ran to the guards that had been on his right before, but now as he was facing them they were on his left. With swift, clean strokes he slashed them both in half. They had no time to scream, but their companions did.   
The one nearest to Cloud raised his gun to shoot, but Cloud dodged out of the way as the bullets whizzed past him. The guard turned to fire again, but Cloud was on top of him already. He fell backward to try and make himself a harder target to hit, but Cloud raised his sword and brought it down to rest in the guard's midsection. He let out a yelp of pain as Cloud pulled his sword out and turned to face the last guard who was running toward him.  
The guard fired as he ran, and Cloud could hear the bullets ricocheting off the walls as he dodged in random directions to keep himself from being shot. He was quick, but no one is quicker than a bullet. He winced as a stray shot caught him in the leg, luckily hitting only the muscle of his calf and not hitting any bone.  
Limping slightly, he dashed forward toward the guard. Seeing that shooting Cloud would make no difference, he instead held up his gun with both hands to block the blow of Cloud's sword. There was a sharp sound as metal met metal, and the blow sent the guard sprawling backward. He quickly got to his feet as Cloud prepared to take another swing.   
He once again raised his gun to block the blow, but Cloud made a quick sweep of his blade and knocked the gun out of the man's hands. The guard closed his eyes and silently admitted defeat, as Cloud expected a Shinra is position would do. Cloud, knowing how to execute the move as quickly and as painlessly as possible in order to spare the man, deftly decapitated him. Tifa and Barret approached from their hiding spot as the guard's head rolled to the floor.  
"Eccch." Tifa said in disgust. "Did you have to cut his head off?"  
"It was courtesy. To die any other way would be painful." Cloud answered. "Just one of the things the Shinra teach you."  
"Enough about the fuckin' Shinra, man." Barret interrupted. "Let's get the hell out of here. You left such a goddamn bloody mess."  
"I'd like to see you do any better, Barret." Cloud retorted. "And you would have made a ton of noise with your gun-arm doing it."  
Barret just snorted, and walked up to the door that the four dead mean had been guarding. It slid upward to reveal a staircase.  
"Goddamn it. Not more stairs." Barret sighed. He walked forward and saw that it was a very short staircase ending in another door. He walked up to it, but it did not slide upward. There was a keycard slot next to the doorway.  
"Yo, Cloud." He called back to him. "Search the bodies and see if any of them has got a keycard."  
Cloud nodded and began to search the bodies. They turned up a few more Gil and the third body turned up the keycard. He threw it up to Barret, who unlocked the door. Cloud and Tifa ran up the stairs to meet him.  
Cloud looked around him as they entered the sixty-first floor of the building. It appeared to be an eating area for the Shinra employees. To the Shinra's credit, the room was very nice indeed. It seemed like they took good care of their employees. The far wall of the room was lined with windows, giving an excellent view of the city. There were tables all along the room, but most were empty. It was late at night and most of the employees had gone home.  
The buffet area was still open for the few people that were still there, eating dinner. In the middle of the room there was a janitor sweeping up. Cloud approached him.  
"Hi." He greeted the man simply. "I was wondering if you've got access to the floor above this one."  
The man scoffed at him.  
"Yeah I do, but that ain't none of your business anyway." He answered.  
"Okay, thanks." Cloud responded, quickly striking the back of the man's neck, knocking him unconscious. He searched the man's limp body and quickly pulled out a floor 62 keycard. He held it up for the others to see. They nodded their approval.  
They walked back to the door through which they had come, and walked back up the staircase. The keycard allowed them access through the next door to get onto the sixty-second floor. Floor sixty-two appeared to be occupied mainly by mostly by a library. There were a few small rooms lining the sides of the larger room that were occupied by secretaries, quietly typing away on their computers. In the middle of the room was a smaller enclosure that had the door closed. It appeared to be a conference room of sorts. To the left of Cloud and the others they noticed an older man sitting at his desk who looked familiar.  
"Isn't that the mayor of Midgar?" Barret asked Tifa quietly. Tifa nodded.  
"So it's that mother fucker that's got those machines killin' the planet all over this goddamn city. I should go put a hole through his head before I never get the chance again." Barret said, infuriated by the very visage of the old man sitting at that desk. Cloud held up his hand, gesturing for Barret to quiet himself up.  
"Come on, Barret. Cool it. We can get a lot more out of that guy than just blowing his head off. He probably knows more about this building than anyone else, except maybe the President." He said, trying to be the voice of reason. Reluctantly, Barret nodded. Cloud approached the man at the desk.  
"Are you the mayor of Midgar?" Cloud asked him quietly. The man slowly looked up from the papers he was reading. He had black bags under his eyes, and he appeared to be in great need of sleep.  
"Yes, I am." He answered, looking at Cloud inquisitively. "Are you a new employee?"  
"No, sir I'm not." Cloud answered simply. He pulled back the outside of his jacket to reveal the very tip of his sword which was hanging on his back. "But I do need to ask you some questions. And if you cooperate, I won't need to use this."  
The mayor's eyebrows raised in fear. He tried timidly to talk.  
"Oh God. Please don't hurt me. I have a family. Oh God." He looked like he was going to cry. "I have two kids at home. Oh lord, please. I have money! I'll give it all to you, just don't hurt me."  
"Calm down, calm down." Cloud said, trying to quiet the mayor. He put his arms around the mayor's shoulders and tried to be as comforting as possible. "I'm not going to hurt you. I promise."  
The mayor nodded slowly, but said nothing.  
"Now, down to business." Cloud continued. "I don't want your money. I just want to ask you about this building. You see, myself and my friends are trying to retrieve one of our companions that was kidnapped by the Turks and taken here. Now, I want you to tell me where I can find her."  
"Oh, that's all?" The mayor asked, visibly relieved. Cloud nodded. "Wow. Well you should have said so to begin with. I'm going to be perfectly honest with you. I can't stand those Shinra guys, especially the President. I'm like their puppet. They don't give me any power around here."  
Cloud nodded again. He really wasn't interested in this man's problems. He just wanted to know where Aeris was.  
"About your friend," The mayor continued, "I'm guessing you're talking about the Ancient that they got today. They're all excited about it for some reason, so the President's holding some kind of meeting about it or something." He grasped the end of Cloud's jacket and pulled him closer. Cloud was just close enough to smell the sharp odor of alcohol on the man's breath.   
"I'll tell you a secret if you promise you're gonna screw those Shinra guys up good, but you'll leave me alone." He gestured to the back of the room. "If you go in the men's bathroom back there and climb up into the ventilation duct, you can crawl to the duct that's in the ceiling of the conference room. You can hear everything they say from in there. I did it once, but all they were talking about was some new specimen that they picked up from Cosmo Canyon."  
"Alright. Thanks for your help. You're doing us quite a favor." Cloud replied, and then walked off to join Barret and Tifa.  
"No problem, son." The mayor called to him. "Anything to give those guys a good kick to the groin, if you know what I mean."  
Cloud wasn't really listening. He was too excited. The mayor had confirmed that Aeris was in the building, and now was Cloud's chance to go save her. He couldn't help but feel exhilarated knowing that he would soon be able to see her again. He would be the very last to admit it, but there was something about her that he really liked. And her smile…  
"We're going to the bathroom." Cloud said to Barret and Tifa as he approached them.  
"What the hell?" Barret asked, raising an eyebrow. "All this sneaking inspire you to take a shit or something?"  
"No." Cloud answered, trying to resist smiling and failing miserably. "Just trust me."  
Barret and Tifa looked at each other, and then shrugged simultaneously. They followed Cloud to the back of the room to the bathrooms. Cloud gestured for the both of them to follow him into the bathroom that was the farthest in the back.  
"Cloud, that's the men's bathroom." Tifa said, quite puzzled.  
"Just do it, Tifa." Cloud answered. "Trust me."  
She shrugged again, and then followed him in. Cloud was relieved to see that no one was in there. He opened one of the stalls and examined the ventilation duct that was hanging above it. He climbed on top of the toilet to get a better view, and then removed the vent and pulled himself into the duct. Suddenly it became apparent to Barret and Tifa what Cloud was trying to do. They quickly followed him into the duct.  
The duct was very cramped, and Cloud couldn't help but feel claustrophobic stuck inside it. He did his best to slowly crawl forward. Ahead he could see light shining through the next duct, and he guessed that it was the duct above the conference room. His assumption was proven correct as they neared the opening and heard voices coming from below. When they had reached the duct, they stopped moving and began to silently listen to the conversation.  
"Now, as I was saying. We have made an astounding leap in our progress with the capture of the girl. The "Ancient" that we have been searching for for so long." They could hear a voice saying.  
"That's the voice of the President!" Tifa whispered into Cloud's ear. He nodded.  
"Professor Hojo has made me aware of the fact that his experiments are going to begin shortly." The President continued. "We hope to be able to complete the research within the next five to ten years. I'm sure you all know what that means. It's going to take a large toll on our budget, but we've had a good surplus in the past two years and I think we're ready to start. I'm going to begin funding the Neo-Midgar project."  
He waited for what he had just said to sink in, and he reveled in the respectful silence of his audience.  
"As most of you already know, the objective of the Neo-Midgar project will be to establish a new city, bigger and better than the one you are all in right now. However, this will not be any ordinary city. It will be built in the fabled Promised Land, a place to which the Ancient will lead us. This place will be unlike no other…some do not believe it exists, but both I and Professor Hojo have faith that the Ancient will lead us there. It is in her ancestry to genetically know the way there. All we have to provide is a little hope, and a suspension of our disbelief just long enough to accept that "Heaven on Earth" might really exist."  
He once again paused for silence. He then broke it to add one more thing.  
"Someone had a question before that I don't think I got around to answering. Um, who was asking me? It had something to do with Sector 7."  
"Yeah, that was me, sir." Another voice replied. "I wanted to know what your plans are for repairing Sector 7. The people are becoming increasingly alarmed about what's been going on lately."  
"That's an excellent question, and it brings up an important point that I need to mention to you all. Let me start by saying that I have no intentions of repairing Sector 7. It will remain as it is now, which is basically non-existent." He answered with a smile.  
"We're not going to fix it?" The voice asked incredulously.  
"No, we're not. The people, for the most part, have been satisfactorily convinced that the destruction of Sector 7 was the work of Avalanche. That is all we need for now. It is more important that we devote the budget to the construction of Neo-Midgar. I can't really worry about fixing up this city, when there are new boundaries that need to be crossed.  
"Everyone here needs to accept the frightening fact that our technology is growing in leaps and bounds. Much as this city may be an amazing show of what we can do, it will soon be obsolete. Our efforts need to turn now toward the future, and the Promised Land. I believe that the Promised Land will present us not only with endless supplies of Mako, but also the means of distributing it to all the world. Let me assure you that if Shinra Co. is responsible for finding such a place, it will make us all very rich."  
He made another obligatory pause, and then decided to end the meeting.  
"If there are no further questions, than I think this meeting is over. I wish you all a good night and a safe trip home."  
Cloud, from the safety of his spot in the duct stared blankly at Tifa and Barret.  
"Wow" was all he could say.  
"They're going to use Aeris in some twisted experiment to find more Mako?" Tifa asked.  
"I guess so." Cloud answered. "I think things just got a lot worse. We're gonna have to find her quick before they hurt her."  
"Those sons of bitches are gonna hurt that poor girl just to make more money!" Barret said with anger. "I swear they must have sold their souls years ago."  
"There's no sense in getting angry over it Barret. Let's get the hell out of this duct and find her before they can do anything." Cloud replied. Barret nodded, and the three of them made their way out of the bathroom and back into the main room. As they passed the mayor's desk, Cloud gave him a quick wink and the man smiled.  
They were going to make their way back to the staircase when they saw an older man walk out of the conference room. He had a long black beard and large glasses that took up most of his face. He was hunched over, apparently from age. His brows were furrowed in deep concentration. He walked ahead of them toward the staircase.  
"That's Professor Hojo!" Cloud whispered to the others. "I haven't seen that son of a bitch in years. He's probably on his way back to the lab."  
"You sound like you've had a history with this guy." Tifa replied.  
"I have. It's an interesting story actually, but I'll have to tell you later. I think we should follow him. I have a feeling he'll lead us to Aeris."  
Tifa nodded. Barret was busy staring at a young secretary that was sitting at her desk, but with a quick slap on the arm from Tifa he was brought back to attention. The three of them tried to follow Hojo as quietly as possible as he slowly ascended the stairs. When he opened the door at the top, they were quick to sneak into it before it automatically closed behind him.  
Cloud knew they were in a laboratory as soon as they entered. It wreaked with the smell of chemicals, and the air seemed unusually processed, as though it wasn't even real. He even felt a little light headed. Perhaps the air they were circulating was a little different from natural air, for the good of their experiments. In all honesty, he didn't really care.  
Hojo made his way around a corner and walked toward a large containment area. There was a glass cylinder-shaped cage of sorts on the far end of the room, and on the other side of the room was an enclosed observation room. Technicians and students were inside the room, apparently preparing for some sort of experiment. Hojo walked toward a lift that would bring him up to the second level of the observation room so that he would have a good view of the scene he was about to see.  
"Are you guys ready up there?" He called to the technicians. Cloud couldn't hear what their reply was, but he could tell it must have been positive because Hojo boarded the lift and walked into the observatory to join them. Cloud leaned up against the machinery behind him so that he would not be seen.  
Barret was fidgeting around, and his attention was suddenly grabbed by a small window on the outside of one of the machines. He turned to Cloud.  
"Hey, Cloud. What's inside there?" He asked.  
Cloud cautiously backed toward the small window and examined it. There was a sign bolted above the window that read "JENOVA."  
"Oh my God." Cloud said as he read the sign. "Is it really her?"  
"What?" Barret asked. "What are you talking about?"  
Cloud didn't answer. He wiped the condensation off of the window and peared inside. He could clearly see what appeared to be the torso of a woman, with all of the limbs and head removed. It was a truly disgusting sight. There were tubes running in and out of it and it was being kept at a very low temperature.  
"My God. They must be keeping her alive. I wonder how they even found her."  
"What do you mean "her"?" Barret asked. "What the hell's inside there?"  
"Look, Barret. I don't know why they have this here, but somehow I bet it has something to do with this whole thing about finding the Ancient. They seem to think Aeris is one of them, and I don't know why. But this here I can explain, and I will when I have the time. But not right now." He answered. "And don't look inside that window. You'll regret it."  
Ignoring Cloud's advice, Barret looked inside anyway. He immediately pulled his face away, with a look of utter disgust.  
"Man, what the fuck is that?!" He exclaimed. "Where the hell is her head? Damn, there's some fucked up shit goin' on around here!"  
"I warned you." Cloud replied. "Come on, we have more important things to do." He slowly inched to the edge of the machine to regain his view of the experiment being conducted. Barret just continued to shake his head, repulsed by what he had just seen.  
"Get ready to bring the Ancient and the specimen from Cosmo Canyon together in the experiment chamber." Cloud could hear Hojo say inside the observatory. "I'm really hoping for these two to be able to mate. The offspring they could potentially create would be very powerful indeed."  
Cloud gasped and turned to Tifa.  
"That son of a bitch is gonna try to breed Aeris with the monster they got from Cosmo Canyon! We have to stop them now!" He exclaimed. Running out from behind his cover, he dove onto the lift and brought himself up to the observatory. He pulled out his sword and yelled to Hojo.  
"Stop your experiment you sick bastard! Give up the girl and I won't hurt anybody!"  
Tifa and Barret had also ran out from their cover and were staying on the lower level in front of the experimental chamber. Above them in the observatory, Hojo was laughing.  
"If I were you, I wouldn't kill me. I'm the only one that knows how to operate this machinery. If I die, the Cosmo Canyon specimen could very well kill your precious girl." He said, sneering at Cloud.  
"I have no intention of killing you, as long as you give Aeris back to us." Cloud replied.  
"Is that her name?" Hojo asked. "She wouldn't tell me."  
"Whatever. I don't care, just give her up now."  
"Please, young man. You really aren't being very pleasant right now. Patience is a virtue, you know." Hojo responded.  
"Hey look, just shut the fuck up and give us the girl or I'm gonna kill every one of your pansy ass students up there." Barret called to him from his position on the lower level.  
Hojo did not seem to be intimidated by Cloud, but Barret, with his gun-arm held menacingly in the air, was apparently more influential. Hojo simply nodded, and walked past Cloud to get to the lift. Cloud followed closely behind him, with his sword held ready in case Hojo tried to pull anything. Above, the students were waiting nervously for their next order from Hojo.  
Hojo walked past Tifa and Barret to approach the experimental chamber. The clear cylinder was empty, but that would change in a minute.  
"Bring the girl up." Hojo called to his students. "And make sure she remains unharmed."  
Cloud watched as the floor of the chamber opened and a lift beneath the floor began to rise. He could feel the relief in his soul the moment the very top of Aeris's head was visible as the lift brought her above and into the chamber. It was immediately replaced with fear as he saw that the Cosmo Canyon specimen had been brought up as well.  
Aeris backed up against the glass wall of the chamber, trying to distance herself from the beast. It looked much like a wild wolf, but its fur was a bright red color. The tip of its long tail burned in a small flame, probably kept alive by some sort of magical properties. It was an intimidating animal to be sure.  
"Get her out of there, Hojo!" Cloud yelled, raising his sword to compel Hojo to do as he was told.  
"Don't worry, she'll be fine." Hojo answered calmly. He then called up to his students. "Please remove the girl from the chamber!"  
The chamber immediately began filling with some sort of gas, concealing Aeris and the beast from view in a whitish fog.  
"Where did they go?" Cloud asked.  
The words were barely out of his mouth when the entrance on the front of the glass chamber slid open, letting gas leak out. A few seconds passed as the gas came out, making a hissing noise as it did so. Suddenly, the red beast jumped out of the chamber and tackled Hojo, knocking him to the floor. Hojo yelped in pain as it bit into the side of his chest. From inside the chamber, Aeris ran out and practically fell into Cloud's arms.  
"Cloud, you came to save me!" She said, hugging him tightly.  
"I'm still your bodyguard, remember?" He replied, smiling. She smiled back and hugged him again. Looking to her left she could see the beast mauling Hojo.  
"Hey Cloud, we better get the hell out of here." Barret said. "That thing is going nuts!"  
The students that had been inside the observatory had all run downward, some jumping off the ledge to escape the predatory animal. With a quick knock to the animal's face, Hojo was able to slide away from it and run away with his students, leaving the other four alone with it. He left a trail of blood behind him as he fled.  
The animal did not follow, but simply stayed where it was. The others turned to run away, but it did not appear that it was going to follow them. Out of the corner of his eye, Cloud saw the animal raise its paw to wipe the blood from its mouth. He could swear that it visibly grimaced from having to taste the blood of its opponent. Then it did something that caught everyone completely by surprise.  
"Sorry for scaring you all like that, but I felt I was entitled to some revenge on that miserable man." It said.  
Tifa gasped in amazement.  
"It can talk!" She exclaimed. The animal laughed at her.  
"That's generally the reaction I get whenever people hear me say something for the first time. But, if you'll be so courteous, please do no refer to me as "it"." I am a "he", thank you very much." The creature replied. "You may call me Red XIII, since that's what Hojo called me. My real name is not important."  
"What are you doing here?" Cloud asked.  
"Hojo captured me near Cosmo Canyon. As you can tell, I am not your usual animal. I am one of the very few of my species still left on this planet. My species is not only very intelligent, but also lives for a very long time. My grandfather was alive during the time of the Ancients. Hojo felt that I would be able to provide him with information on them."  
"Well, we really need to get out of here." Cloud responded. "We only came to get back Aeris, and we're probably going to be swarmed by security in a few minutes. If you want, you can come with us."  
"Yes, I would like that." Red XIII answered. "After all, I have nowhere else to go."  
Barret shrugged.  
"A'right, then let's get the hell outta here." He said.  
"Hold on." Aeris stopped him. "I say we split up and head downward. They'll have a harder time keeping track of us if we're broken into two parties."  
"She's right." Cloud acknowledged. "Tifa, why don't you and Aeris take the elevator. Us guys will take the stairs."  
"Shit, Cloud, we gotta take the goddamn stairs again?" Barret replied, annoyed.  
"And what is it with the guys taking the stairs? You think the girls are too weak to walk down those stairs, so we have to take the elevator?" Tifa asked, only half kidding. Aeris just smiled.  
"Okay fine then." Cloud answered, flashing a somewhat evil-looking smile. "The girls will take the stairs, the guys will take the elevator. Case closed."  
As soon as he'd said it, they broke apart and headed for their assigned destinations. Aeris and Tifa made a run for the stairwell, and Cloud, Barret, and Red XIII made a beeline to the nearest elevator. Red XIII was remarkably fast, and he found himself slowing to what he considered a snail's pace so his two companions could keep up with him.  
Cloud was the first to reach the elevator since Red XIII had allowed them to walk ahead of him. It was easier than slowing constantly to let them catch up. He opened it up and they got inside. He set it for the ground floor, but they had only gone down a few floors before the elevator stopped by itself.  
"What the hell?" Barret said.  
"Maybe someone is getting on." Red XIII suggested. He was right, but not in the same way that he was thinking of.  
The doors opened to reveal Elena and Rude of the Turks. Cloud reached for his sword, but Rude was quick to grab him and hold him down. Red XIII pounced on Elena, but she was quick to dodge out of the way of his sharp claws. Rude took one arm off of Cloud to fire a shot from a tazer he was holding. A sharp electric bolt flew out of the end of the stun weapon and into the crimson beast. He let out a howl and then fell to the ground, unconscious. Rude let go of Cloud and stood a safe distance away from him, holding his tazer in a ready firing position.  
"Anybody else wanna fuck with me?" He asked.  
Cloud was silent, but his face was red with rage. Barret tried to remain calm, but the veins on his neck were popping out.  
"That's what I thought. Party's over you stupid little shits."  
He fired another shot from the tazer and before Cloud's eyes could even find the shot's target, Barret's unconscious body was lying on the ground before him. Cloud had no time to think. He tried to run, but Rude was too fast.  
"This one's for what you did to Reno!" He yelled, hitting Cloud hard over the head with the but of the tazer.   
It was painful, but he got up quickly and tried to run again. Behind him he heard another sizzling beam leap from the gun. He closed his eyes and fell to the ground as the beam caught him in the back.   
His weary mind only had a few seconds to wonder if it had been such a good idea to invade the Shinra Headquarters before his nervous system shut down from the electrical pulse. He felt a sharp pain run through his body, and then everything went black.  
  
  
***  
  
Cloud's eyes flickered a few times as he awoke, startled. He had been having a horrible dream about one of the missions he'd been sent on during his time in Soldier. An extended memory really. His forehead was covered in sweat. He hadn't thought about that mission in years. His memories of it were almost as horrifying as the real thing.  
As he eyes adjusted to the light he was able to get his bearings. He was in a small cell, and he was lying on a thick metal table extending out of the wall and covered with a thin blanket. There was a toilet in the corner of the room. It appeared to be a jail cell. There were no windows in it at all, and he couldn't see anything outside of the room. The walls were white and made the cell seem more sanitary than it probably really was.  
Sitting on another "bed" which was protruding from the wall opposite him was Tifa. She was lying down, but she wasn't asleep.  
"You okay, Cloud?" She asked, a little worry in her voice.  
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little shaken up from that tazer shot."  
"They hit you with those too? Hurts doesn't it?"  
He nodded.  
"Where are we?" He asked.  
"They put us in the cells where Hojo keeps his human experiments sometimes. They look a lot like jail cells to me."  
Cloud nodded again.  
"Where's everyone else?"  
"Barret and Red XIII are in the cell behind me. Aeris is in the cell behind you."  
Cloud turned around to examine the wall behind him. There was a ventilator above his head, and he fidgeted with it to see if it could be removed.  
"Don't bother, Cloud, I already tried. These rooms are pretty foolproof." Aeris said from the other side of the wall where her cell was located.  
"Oh, hi Aeris." Cloud greeted her, talking through the ventilator. "I didn't know you could hear me through there."  
"Well now you know." Aeris answered playfully. "So what are you doing over there?"  
"I just woke up." Cloud answered. "They shocked me pretty good with that tazer. To be honest, I'm still pretty tired."  
"Me too." Aeris replied. "I'm probably gonna go back to sleep in a few minutes."  
It was silent for about a minute. Cloud couldn't think of anything to say. Tifa was likewise silent, lying on her side on the bed. Finally, Aeris broke the silence.  
"Do you think we'll ever get out of here, Cloud?" She asked.  
"I hope so." He answered.  
"That didn't sound too confident."  
"That's because I'm really not sure."  
"Oh." She replied. "Um, Cloud?"  
"Yeah."  
"If we get out of here, you still want me to go on a date with you right?"  
Cloud smiled.  
"Sure. A deal is a deal. Besides, I might not be such a bad date anyway." He chuckled after saying it. She let out a small laugh too.  
"Oh, I see how it is now." Tifa spoke up from her bed. From the sound of her voice, Cloud could tell she was being playful again. But she had just heard something she didn't know about yet.  
"Cloud agreed to be your bodyguard as long as you'd go on a date with him." She inferred.  
"Tifa, it isn't really like that." Cloud started to defend himself.  
"No, don't worry Cloud. It doesn't matter to me. It's none of my business really." She replied, and then rolled back over to lay on her side again. Suddenly the room fell into an awkward silence. It was quiet for a few minutes.  
"I think I'm gonna go back to sleep." Cloud finally said.  
"Goodnight." Aeris said from the other room.  
" 'Night." Could replied. He got up from the bed to turn off the lights, but found there was no light switch. A cruel aspect to the cell. He guessed it was probably Hojo's idea. He was going to have to sleep in the light.  
He rolled onto his back and tried his best to calm his nerves enough to sleep. His mind started wondering back to the nightmare he'd been having before. He tried to change his thoughts to a different subject. Finally he settled on thinking about Aeris, which was a pleasant topic. He finally fell asleep wondering why Aeris had been so anxious to know if he still wanted that date with her. He'd have to ask her sometime.  
  
***  
  
Cloud awoke once again because there was, of all things, a draft in the room. When his eyes had once again adjusted to the light, he could see that the door to the cell was open. Intrigued, he walked out of the cell. Down the hall he could see a Shinra guard lying face down on the ground. His back was cut open, cut cleanly by a blade in a diagonal line running from the nape of his neck to his thigh. The ground beneath him was covered in a pool of blood.  
Cloud ran back to the room to get Tifa. He shook her until she was awake.  
"Tifa, go look outside." He ordered.  
"What?"  
"Just do it."  
She shrugged and did so. Cloud could hear her gasp as soon as she walked out of the door and saw what was there.  
"What the hell happened to him?" She asked.  
"I don't know. All I know is that this door was open when I woke up." He answered. "I'm gonna go search the body for a key."  
Sure enough, a quick search revealed the key to all five cells in the hallway. Cloud rushed to open up the cells in which his companions were being held. He opened the one containing Barret and Red XIII first, and explained what he knew. Red XIII quickly ran out to investigate the floor to see if anyone else was around.  
Red XIII returned from his scouting just as Cloud had finished opening Aeris' cell and explaining what had happened. Barret had already moved the body so Aeris wouldn't have to see it. It was a pretty disgusting thing to see.  
"There's no one alive on this floor. I found a bunch of dead guards scattered around, but not a single member of the living. Something terrible must have happened here." He reported.  
"Terrible for them, maybe." Barret said. "But perfect for us. This is our chance to get out of here."  
Cloud was getting a closer look at the body of the first guard he'd seen.  
"This man was killed by a blow from a sword." Cloud observed.  
"Yeah, so? A lot of thieves like to use swords." Barret said.  
"This wasn't an ordinary sword, though." Cloud replied nervously. "This was done by a Masamune blade. I only know one person that uses, or used a Masamune." He stood up, clearly very bothered by the scene before him.  
"I haven't seen a person killed like that since…" His words trailed off. He didn't say anything more, but simply walked forward a little so that he could see out of the hallway and into the room before him.  
"What floor are we on?" He asked Red XIII.  
"The same floor that they were holding myself and Aeris when we were in the glass cage." He replied.  
"That's what I thought." Cloud said. "I need to go check something."  
He walked forward and around the corner. To the far side of the room he could see the glass cage. To his right was the observatory. It looked the same as before, but with no people around. Also, there was a long trail of blood on the ground. It was coming from around the corner ahead of him, and it led to the stairwell.   
He followed it around the corner, and found that it stopped right at the machine where the torso with no head or appendages had been. The machine had been broken into, and the torso was no longer there. The sign that had read "JENOVA" was lying on the ground next to pieces of the machine that had been broken off.  
"My God. Just as I feared." Cloud said. Barret, who had been following him, arrived to find Cloud staring at the machine. Barret immediately recognized it.  
"Yo, where the hell did that body go?" He asked.  
"You don't want to know." Cloud answered. "All I'll say is that an old friend has been here, and he isn't happy."  
Behind him, Tifa arrived as well. She looked right into his face and saw the fear in his eyes.  
"Cloud, that blade you were talking about. The Masamune. I remember that sword." She said. "The wound on that guard's back looked a lot like this one."  
She pulled her shirt out from her pants and lifted it slightly to let them see the scar on her chest. It was the same shape as the guard's wound. Barret was speechless, but Cloud was not. He knew about the scar. He was almost glad that Tifa realized what was going on here, so he wouldn't have to explain everything himself.  
"Cloud, you realize who did this right?" She asked.  
He nodded.  
"Sephiroth has been here. He gave you that scar, and he definitely killed that guard."  
"But I thought he was dead." She replied.  
"So did I."  
Barret was thoroughly confused by all this.  
"A'right now. Either one of you want to explain what the fuck's goin' on here?"  
"We don't have time." Cloud answered. "We'll have to explain later. Right now I'm gonna follow that trail of blood upstairs. If Sephiroth is still here, I want to talk to him. I would appreciate if everyone else came with me too."  
Tifa nodded, and Barret just shrugged and followed along. They grabbed Red XIII and Aeris and headed up the stairs, following the trail of blood. It led two floors up, to the President's Penthouse at the very top of the Shinra Headquarters. Along the way they passed a few more dead bodies, which made everyone quite nervous.  
"Where did all this blood come from?" Barret asked, looking at the trail of blood which they were following. "It leads pretty far."  
"Remember that detached torso that we saw in the machine labeled "Jenova"?" Cloud asked him. He nodded. "Sephiroth ripped the torso out of there and took it with him. He must have dragged it behind him and left this trail of its blood along the way."  
"That's disgusting. What the hell did the sicko do that for?" Barret asked.  
"Like I said before, I'll explain everything later." Cloud replied. Barret once again had to settle for just shrugging and letting it go for now.  
They had reached a very large staircase that led upward to the penthouse. The trail of blood led up the stairs so they followed it as they had been. Cloud was first to reach the top, and the first to see just how badly the Shinra had been hit by Sephiroth.  
The President's desk occupied the far end of the Penthouse. The back wall was composed of large windows that gave an excellent view of the cityscape below. But Cloud wasn't looking at the cityscape. He was looking at the President.  
President Shinra, a man who had been the corporate ruler of the entire world for years before Cloud was ever born, was lying face down on his desk. His beard was mussed up, and his clothes were wrinkled as though he had been in a fight with someone. Cloud looked upon him as though it were an old friend that had lost track and gone bad. In a way, that was the truth. Barret looked at him as a lifelong enemy who now lay humbled before the righteous.  
The scene before him was more than Cloud could take. There was no doubt in his mind what had happened here. A man that he had once looked at as a father had returned from years of hiding. Cloud had never really believed the stories of his death, and now he was vindicated.   
No one could deny that Sephiroth was responsible for the massacre to which Cloud was now bearing witness. The sword in the old man's back had been held by Sephiroth. The vengeance that had been laid out here was the work of Sephiroth's unbelievable strength. The blood that had pooled beneath the lifeless body of the President had been spilled by Sephiroth. Sephiroth had assassinated the President of Shinra.  
"My God." Was all he could say. He was at a complete loss for words.  
Out of the corner of his ear he could hear someone breathing underneath the desk. He pulled out the chair, letting the limp and lifeless body of the President fall to the floor. One of his associates was hiding under the desk. Cloud grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and dragged him out from under the desk.  
"What the hell were you doin' under there? Hidin' like a pussy?" Barret asked.  
The man was silent.  
"Hey, answer me you Shinra piece of shit. Who the hell are you anyway?"  
"My…my name is Palmer. I work…I worked for President Shinra." The man answered. "Sephiroth killed him…I saw him."  
Cloud immediately took over the interrogation from there.  
"You saw him. You actually saw Sephiroth murder the President."  
"Yes." Palmer whimpered. "I swear it was him. The stories were wrong. Sephiroth is alive."  
"You better not be lying to me." Cloud said, and then turned to Barret. "Get him out of here."  
Palmer didn't need to be prompted. As soon as Cloud let go of him, he ran like hell down the stairs and out of sight. Cloud turned toward the door that lead outside to the balcony. It was open.  
"Come on." He said, gesturing to everyone else. He headed for the door, feeling a cool breeze from the night air outside as he approached it. For some reason, he felt compelled to go outside. Something was nagging at him that told him it was important to go out. Once he stepped outside the door, he realized why.  
Standing on the balcony petting a large black Doberman pinscher dog was a man that looked a bit like the former President, but his youth was quite evident. He wore a long, white trench-coat, with a white suit beneath it. He looked very official, but also a little too proud. To Cloud, he seemed too young to have such a condescending air about him.  
"Who are you?" The man asked, becoming defensive as soon as he saw Cloud and company walk through the door.  
"None of your fuckin' business." Barret answered. "But as long as we're here, we might as well ask you why the President's lying dead in there and you don't have a scratch on you."  
The man sneered at him for a second, and then started laughing hysterically. Cloud nervously removed his sword from his back, just in case.  
"Do you have any idea who I am?" The man asked them, still laughing. "I am Rufus Shinra, The new President of Shinra Inc. You are standing on my balcony, and if I wasn't in such a hurry to get the hell out of here I would have you all killed."  
"Tough luck motherfucker." Barret replied. "You gonna run like a pussy just like your man Palmer back there?"  
"If you knew what we're up against you'd be running too." Rufus retorted. "I'm simply tolerating your presence right now, at least until my helicopter gets here. Who are you people anyway? You aren't from Avalanche are you? I thought my father killed them."  
"I'm working as a mercenary right now." Cloud replied.  
"I'm trying to lead a revolutionary group to destroy the power of the Shinra and bring the planet back to safety." Barret said.  
"I used to own a bar in the Sector 7 slums before it was destroyed." Tifa said.  
"I'm an Ancient that's being pursued by the Shinra for their own gain." Aeris said.  
"I'm a laboratory experiment." Red XIII said.  
Rufus shook his head, smiling.  
"What a motley crew. How the hell did you people escape Sephiroth anyway?" He asked. He didn't give them time to answer. "I'm bored of you anyway. I think I'll make sure you're all dead before I leave because I'd really hate to have you trying to wreck my administration the way you did to my father."  
Cloud pointed to the door and acknowledged the rest of his party. The wind blew through his hair as he spoke, and to everyone else he looked far more intimidating than the young Rufus.  
"You guys get out of here. Head downstairs and I'll meet up with you." He said. Reluctantly they did as they were told.  
Now Cloud was alone with Rufus. They stared right into each other's eyes for a few moments, neither one of them letting up. Finally Rufus spoke.  
"My father was a naïve man. If he really knew what he was doing you and your friends would all be dead, including that girl…the Ancient. The Promised Land that he was searching for doesn't even exist. It was just a figment of his imagination. My administration will focus on making the Shinra bigger and stronger, instead of pursuing some hopeless goal like my father." He said. He paused for a second, but Cloud said nothing. From the ambient noise of the city below he could hear the helicopter approaching from the distance.  
"I have no means to kill you right now so I'm going to let you go." He continued. "I'm lucky to be alive, considering that Sephiroth was here. Yes, I'm going to let you go. You're friends will probably be attacked by the Shinra guard when they get outside, but that's their own problem. I hope you can realize how futile your crusade is and won't bother me once I take office. Because unlike my father, I won't let you live to see another day. And on that note, I must be going."  
The helicopter had gotten close now, and it was descending slowly as it hovered over the balcony.  
"Don't you even care that your father is dead?" Cloud asked as Rufus approached the helicopter.  
"My father was an ignorant bastard of big business. The world's a better place without him." Rufus replied. The helicopter was within his reach now. He helped lift the dog onto the helicopter, and then he lifted himself up as well.  
"You haven't seen the last of Avalanche, Rufus." Cloud called to him. "Their flame won't die until the Shinra do."  
"It's a shame that you're so foolish." Rufus called back. "I'm sure you were a good Soldier back in the day. Your eyes give it all away."  
And then he was gone. Cloud let out a sigh and sheathed his sword as the helicopter lifted itself away from the balcony and flew off into the night sky.  
  
***  
  
Several floors down Tifa was waiting patiently for Cloud to arrive. Barret and the others had taken the elevator down to the bottom floor and had left her to meet up with Cloud before heading after them. She hoped he was okay. He had been gone for at least ten minutes.  
Finally she saw him running down the stairs. She was relieved to see that he appeared unharmed.  
"What happened?" She asked as he approached her. "Where's Rufus?"  
"He got away. Where's everyone else?"  
"Downstairs."  
"Alright, let's go. Things are gonna get complicated." He said, and then ran with her to the elevator.  
Down on the bottom floor of the Shinra Headquarters, Barret, Aeris, and Red XIII were contemplating how they were going to escape.  
"The front of the building's swarming with those goddamn Shinra guards!" Barret said as he ran back from the front doors from which he was observing the situation outside. "If I was alone I'd run out there and start shootin' the place up, but I don't want to put you two in danger."  
"Thank you, Mr. Barret, but I don't think we have much of an alternative." Red XIII replied. "Rushing them may be our only choice."  
"Yo, don't call me Mr. Barret. Barret is fine. Mr. Barret just sounds so…just don't call me that." Barret replied.  
"Sorry."  
They were standing in the huge lobby, but it was unoccupied save for the three of them. In the back of the lobby were three glass elevators through which an excellent view of the Headquarters' interior could be seen. All three lead to regular elevators on the upper floors. Barret could see one of them descending, and when it reached his view he could see that Tifa was inside it. When it stopped on the bottom floor she ran out to greet her companions.  
"Where's Cloud?" Aeris asked.  
"He said he's got something planned. Come on!" She replied. They followed behind her as she ran toward the opposite end of the room. She lead them into a small garage area where Cloud was waiting for them.  
"Hurry up guys, I have an idea." He said as they approached.  
He lead them to a strange looking prototype car that was being developed by the Shinra. He had removed it from its display area and had checked to make sure it could run. It looked much like a pickup truck, but it was more compact. What made it so unique was that it only had three wheels: two in the front and one in the back.  
"You guys can ride in here." He said. "I'm taking the motorcycle."  
The others entered the odd car, Barret and Tifa in the front and Red XIII and Aeris sitting in the open trunk area in the back. Cloud ran over to the motorcycle that had also been on display and revved it up.  
"Let's get the hell out of here." He said, and then gunned it, heading for the stairs at the end of the garage display area. Barret fired up the truck and followed close behind. Cloud fell back slightly to let Barret in front, and Barret rammed the trucks front end into the display window in the front of the display area. It was made of thick glass and it read "Shinra Inc." It broke into large chunks as Barret ran through it with Cloud following close behind.  
Their was another set of wide, carpet covered stairs ahead of them and Barret revved the engine in the truck so that he could make it up the incline. He stopped when he reached the top. In front of them was a huge pane of glass, and beyond it was the outside of the Headquarters. If there was a best way out, this was it.  
Cloud pulled up next to Barret in his motorcycle and then stopped. They both looked at each other without saying a word. They knew what they had to do. Cloud smiled, and then crossed his fingers for good luck. He revved up the engine once more and then prepared for the worst.  
Cloud gunned the engine with Barret close behind. His motorcycle smashed through the window and went flying high over the streets of Midgar. He could see hundreds of Shinra guards and flashing lights beneath him while he was airborne. It seemed like forever before his motorcycle slammed onto the highway road. He made sure to keep his foot on the pedal, and the bike hit the road with the wheels spinning. As soon as he had touched down he was riding.  
Not far behind him Barret's truck smashed down onto the road. It skidded and the tires screeched as Barret struggled to regain control of it. As soon as he had he sped up to come to a short distance away from Cloud. They were headed down one of the main highways in Midgar that lead from the middle of the city to the outer wall. If they kept heading forward, they would eventually be able to make it out of the city. Cloud's plan had worked.  
Behind him, Cloud could hear that Barret had made it safely. He could also hear other approaching vehicles. He immediately knew what it was. The mounted Shinra guards had gotten on their motorcycles and were pursuing them. He was going to be in for a hell of a fight.  
He steered the motorcycle with one hand while he reached behind his back to grab his sword. Behind him, the first of the Shinra guards were approaching. He slammed on the brakes to shoot behind Barret's truck and then he brought it back up to speed again. Just as the first Shinra guard picked up speed to pass him on the left, he stuck his sword way out to his side and clothes-lined him. The guard fell off his bike and hit the road hard. The bike slammed into the highway divider and exploded, lighting up the night.  
The other guards on motorcycles saw their companion and stayed a cautious distance away from Cloud. He was doing his best to keep them away from the truck, which had no defense against them. Each time he saw the opportunity, he closed in on a guard and used his sword to knock them off of their motorcycle. After a few of the guards had fallen, the others pulled away. They were cowards at heart, just like the one's he'd known when he was one of them.  
He pulled up closer to the truck as the sounds of enemy motorcycles faded into the night. It didn't take long before they approached the end of the highway, and their gateway to freedom. Cloud pulled over on the side of the road, and so did Barret. Cloud got out to get a good look at what was around him.  
The highway was elevated high above the rest of the city. He walked to the edge and looked down on the city beneath him. He really wasn't sad at all to be leaving it. Talking to Rufus somehow made him hate the Shinra and their city even more than he had before.  
"What are we gonna do now, Cloud?" Barret asked as he stepped away from the truck.  
Cloud turned around to face him. The night sky was filled with beautiful stars, and their light illuminated Barret's face, as did the road lights that lined the edges of the elevated highway.  
"We're going to have to leave Midgar." Cloud replied. "This is more complicated than I thought it would be. Now that I know Sephiroth is alive, I'm going to have to find him. If you want, you can come with me. If you join me, I'll still give you my help in defeating the Shinra if that's still your goal."  
"It is." Barret replied. "And I think we should stay together, so I'm willing to go after this Sephiroth guy with you, but I'm gonna need some answers."  
Cloud nodded.  
"I'll explain everything soon. Don't worry." He replied. He turned to look at the others. "Are the rest of you coming with me?"  
"I will." Tifa replied. "I have a lot of reasons to see Sephiroth again myself. And I don't want to desert Barret after so long."  
"I shall come with you all as well." Red XIII said. "I did not realize before that you were from Avalanche. I had been meaning to come in contact with you before I was captured by the Shinra. There is much help that I can give to you."  
Aeris sighed and stared up at the sky.  
"I'm involved now. It's my destiny to help the planet. I know that better than any of you could imagine. You'll need my help, and I'll want your company."  
"Well I guess it's settled then." Cloud said. "Everyone follow me."  
He walked over to the maintenance cable that hung down from the edge of the highway. The very edge extended beyond the extent of the city's perimeter, and Cloud used the cable to drop down to the outside. When he and the others had touched their feet to the ground, they were standing outside of Midgar.  
"It fells kind of sad to leave." Barret said. "I've lived here for a long time."  
"We have no choice, Barret." Cloud said. Things have gotten out of our control, and now it's time for us to figure out the answers to some things. There's a lot that I need to tell all of you about Sephiroth and why I'm so anxious to find him now that I know he's alive. Tifa and I will give you some history, so that we can clear things up a little."  
"Where are we gonna go from here?" Aeris asked.  
"I know a little town called Kalm that isn't far from here." Cloud replied. "I stayed there on night before I came to Midgar. It's pretty isolated and the Shinra have no presence there. We can rent a hotel and stay for the night, and Tifa and I will be able to fill everyone in on what's going on."  
"Sounds like a plan to me." Barret replied. "I say we head for Kalm."  
Everyone else nodded in agreement.  
"Alright then. It seems as though we're all a pretty solid travelling party, so I think we should elect a "leader" before we head out." Cloud said.  
"Well, " Barret began, with a slightly conceited smile on his face, "That should obviously be me."  
"Actually, I think Cloud should be our leader." Tifa said. "No offense to Barret or anything."  
"Yeah, I agree with Tifa." Aeris said.  
Barret looked a little angry, but it quickly faded.  
"Alright fine." He said, defeated. "Cloud's our leader then."  
Cloud smiled and nodded.  
"Thank you everyone." He said. "Now let's move out."  
They got everything together, and prepared themselves for the long journey ahead. They were leaving the comfort of a contained city and were heading out into a dangerous world. They really had no idea where they were really going, other than in the short term, and they had no idea how much responsibility they were taking into their hands.  
Behind them lay the safety of home. Before them lay the uncertainty of the future. Together, five people delved into a world of which they knew little, and in which they had much to discover. Armed only with their curiosity and their ambition, they traveled in the night toward their destinies.   
Around them, the world slept in the peaceful dead of night. The air was saturated with a tangible feeling of dread, as though a remarkable turn of events had taken place in just one night. Everything in nature could feel the unusual tension. A new chapter had been opened, and the course of the world had made an unexpected turn.   
Somewhere in the distance a wolf howled at the moon. Even the constant change of the moon, in all its shining glory, offered more solace than the feeling that was in the air that night. Cloud could hear the wolf's unearthly howl as the two stared at the same moon. His heart was filled with dread, and a part of him wondered if the animal felt the same way. The thought stayed in his mind as he walked forward into the face of his own destiny. Above him, far beyond the insignificant planet on which he stood, the stars shined brightly with the fire of all eternity. 


	12. Remembrance of Things Past

Chapter Ten: Remembrance of Things Past  
  
It was almost dawn over the Midgar plains, and the rays of the early morning Sun were beginning to peek up over the horizon. Cloud and his party of travelers had been walking all night, and now the city of Midgar was but a dot in the far distance. Around them they were surrounded by green rolling hills. In the very far distance the mountains were visible, but otherwise there was very little to see.  
As the Sun began to rise from its nighttime slumber, Cloud could see the small village of Kalm not far from where they were. As they approached the tiny walled town, he began to remember just how small it was. There was only enough room in the village for a few shops and an inn. It was built for travelers as a midpoint between Midgar and Junon Harbor. Cloud hoped they would have a materia shop there. He was going to need more than just lightning magic if he was going to risk confronting Sephiroth.  
When they arrived in the town Cloud rented an inn for the day so they could get some rest. Afterwards, he paid a visit to the town blacksmith who gave his sword a decent sharpening and sold Tifa an excellent pair of fighting gloves. Cloud insisted on purchasing Aeris a weapon as well, since she was going to need protection. She decided on a beautiful metal staff, a weapon with which she had some familiarity. Red XIII was uninterested in the weapon shop and found himself quite bored. He had no need for weapons, being that he possessed natural ones.  
Next they went to the materia shop and Cloud bought several needed materia crystals. No one else really knew anything about materia so Cloud packed the crystals into a leather bag given to him by the cashier and decided to equip them later.  
Finally everyone was able to settle down in the inn. They were given a sufficiently large room with two beds and a foldout cot. The inn and the room itself had a very rustic feel to them, which Tifa and Aeris enjoyed. Cloud would have felt more at home in a more modern room, but it was admittedly cozy.  
Once everyone had a chance to take a shower and clean their clothes a bit, they made themselves comfortable and prepared for Cloud to do some explaining. He was not usually one to give long, drawn out stories, but he felt that he couldn't do this one any justice without telling it in detail. So he decided to start from the beginning.  
"Is everyone comfortable?" He asked.  
Everyone gave a slight nod. Barret was lying down on one of the beds, with Tifa sitting on the edge of the bed near his feet. Aeris had the other bed to herself, and Red XIII was sitting on his hind legs on the floor in between the two beds. Cloud was sitting in chair in front of everyone so that he could be seen and heard by all.  
"The only way I can make you all understand what's going on is if I start from the beginning." He said. "A lot of the things I'm gonna say involve you, Tifa, so anytime you want to add anything just say so."  
She nodded in agreement.  
"Alright then. Here we go." He began. He took in a big breath, and then continued. "Tifa and I grew up in a village called Nibelheim. We were good friends when we were little, and we always tried to look out for each other."  
Tifa smiled, and Cloud smiled back.  
"Then when I was about eleven things changed. Tifa's mother died, and I remember she had a hard time dealing with that." He continued.  
"It was the most horrible thing that ever happened to me. I didn't know what to do." She interrupted. "I remember after my father told me I ran away to the Nibel Mountains."  
"Nibelheim was built right in front of the foot of the Mountains, and there was a trail in the back of town that could be taken to reach the network of bridges and ladders that led up the highest mountain." Cloud said. "The Shinra had built a Mako Reactor there that supplied power not only to Nibelheim but to a few other villages too. Tifa tried to run to the reactor but one of the bridges she was on collapsed. She was almost killed.  
"Seeing that she had disappeared I went to look for her and eventually I found her badly injured near the foot of the mountain. I carried her back to town, but everyone thought that I was responsible for her injuries, especially her father."  
"I tried to convince him that it wasn't your fault, Cloud." Tifa said.  
"I know." He replied. "I never blamed you. But things weren't the same after that. Everyone in town stopped hanging around me. That was the same year that the Midgar-Wutai war was coming to an end. Sephiroth was the General in charge of the Shinra army, and by midyear he had lead the army to the gates of Wutai and invaded. His victory there earned him attention in every town with Shinra influence, including Nibelheim. I began hearing all sorts of stories about Sephiroth the great hero, and I began to idolize him.  
"By the time I turned twelve Wutai had surrendered and the excitement about the war was beginning to die down. But I never lost my obsession with Sephiroth. I wanted to be a war hero just like him, and get away from the town that didn't pay me any attention anymore.  
"As soon as I turned fourteen I knew I was old enough to join Soldier. I told Tifa I was leaving. She had started martial arts training after the accident on the bridge, and I knew she could take care of herself. I left for Midgar and began my training in Soldier.  
"I was showered with diluted Mako on a regular basis, which gave me superior strength. They trained me to be the best of the best, and I pushed as hard as I could. I was quickly promoted and soon I had been given the position that I dreamed of…a chance begin a tour of duty alongside Sephiroth.  
"I knew I wasn't going to be given the best of jobs because I was still green and I was low in rank, but I didn't care. I began working with Sephiroth, and we became very close. My father died when I was very young, so Sephiroth was like the father that I never had. Together we went on missions to clean up what was left after the war.  
"When I was sixteen they gave me the first big mission of my career. Sephiroth and I were to return to Nibelheim to investigate mysterious sightings of mutated beasts that were believed to be in connection with the Mako Reactor there. The President had personally assigned Sephiroth the mission, and he wanted things to stay quiet just in case the mutations wound up being a result of Mako poisoning or something like that.  
"Along with a few Shinra soldiers, he and I took a train into Nibelheim. Along the way we were attacked by one of the mutated beasts. It knocked the train off the tracks, killing one of our men. Sephiroth and I escaped from the train and fought the monster. I remember it looked like a gigantic snake, and it scared the hell out of me. But before I knew what was happening, Sephiroth had already cut the thing in half with his sword. He was amazing with that sword. I remember how much I admired the elegant way in which he was able to destroy any of his enemies with it.  
"We had to walk the rest of the way to Nibelheim after the train was wrecked. It was down to Sephiroth, myself, and two Shinra soldiers. We entered the town expecting it to be deserted because of the mutations, but there was actually a welcome party to greet us when we got there. They led us to the mansion that had once been where visiting Shinra execs. stayed.   
"Sephiroth decided that we should rest there before heading up Mt. Nibel to the reactor. They gave us really nice rooms, but since Sephiroth said I could go visit anyone I knew I decided to take a look around. He knew that I was from Nibelheim, and he had a great deal of compassion for me. I really did like him back then.  
"I visited my mom first. She hadn't really changed since I'd left. She was so excited to see me, it was almost over the top. She started telling me how I should find a nice girl and settle down, but I told her I was only there for a mission. She was kind of let down, but I told her I'd spend the night in the house instead of the mansion. That made her feel a lot better, I remember.  
"After that I went to your house, Tifa, but you weren't there. So I just went back to the mansion and got my stuff. Then I went back to my old house and I spent the night reminiscing with my mother.  
"The next morning Sephiroth gathered everyone involved in the mission together in front of the mansion. He wasn't familiar with Nibelheim, and the only time I had even come close to the reactor was when I went after Tifa, so he told me he'd hired a guide to take us up the mountain. When we arrived at the foot of the mountain, I got to meet who the guide was."  
He chuckled a little.  
"The guide was Tifa." He said.  
"Yeah, I remember that." Tifa said, smiling. "We were both so happy to see each other. I begged one of the Shinra guards to take a picture of Sephiroth, Cloud, and me. I probably still have that picture somewhere. Well, I would if Sector 7 still existed."  
"Wow, so you guys were reunited by chance?" Aeris asked, enjoying the story very much.  
"Well we probably would have seen each other anyway, since I would have looked for her again before we left." Cloud replied, then continued his story. "Tifa was a really good guide, actually. Although she was wearing this silly cowboy hat the whole time."  
She laughed.  
"Hey!" She said, kiddingly. "I liked that hat! Yeah I was a pretty good guide. After you left I went up there a lot to train, and I got to know it like the back of my hand."  
"She must have bad luck with those damn bridges, though." Cloud said. "We were pretty far up the mountain when the bridge collapsed under us. Nobody was hurt, but we lost another soldier. Sephiroth felt terrible leaving him behind, but he didn't think we had enough time to look for him. I think it was all our weight that made the bridge collapse.  
"But anyway, we had to climb up the side of the mountain to get to the top. There were a lot of ledges and caves that ran around the peak so it wasn't that hard making our way up. On the way we found a cave near the summit that had pure condensed Mako forming inside. I had never seen materia in its purest form like that, and Sephiroth said he had only seen it once before."  
"It was probably the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." Tifa said. "It had such a brilliant glow."  
"They mine that stuff to make the materia crystals that I bought. Depending on how its refined, it can be made into various types of magic, although some really rare magic can only be made by leaving the crystal in its natural state." Cloud remarked.  
"Anyway," He continued, "It didn't take us long to get to the top of the mountain. Sephiroth and I were the only ones that were going to enter the Reactor, since there was a very high degree of confidentiality to the whole mission. Tifa wanted to go in so bad, but I wouldn't let her. I told the last of our soldiers to watch her outside while Sephiroth and I went in."  
"You were being so mean." Tifa said, half-serious. "I really wanted to see what was in there."  
"You know I couldn't let you." Cloud replied. "Sephiroth and I were told to search the whole reactor for signs of trouble. No one was inside since it had already been evacuated. We looked all over the place, but we didn't see any monsters or anything. We kept walking forward and eventually we reached a door near the back of the reactor that read "RESTRICTED: KEEP OUT." Sephiroth managed to kick the metal door open and get us inside.  
"When we got in there we saw rows upon rows of air compressed chambers, each about six feet tall and shaped a lot like an egg. They were all kept at a very low temperature, and there were tons of them. I had no idea what they were, but Sephiroth seemed to have a suspicion. He walked up to one of the chambers and wiped the frost off of the glass observation window. I remember him gasping when he saw what was inside.  
"He told me to look inside, so I did as I was told. What I saw in there was very disturbing. It looked like a naked human man, but it was severely mutated. Its skin had turned to a greenish purplish scaly texture. It had grown several deformities such as spiked contortions of bone along the back and head. It looked like it was some sort of reptilian being, but by looking at the face I could tell that it had once been a person.  
"Sephiroth immediately knew what was going on. He said he'd heard about something like this, but he didn't think it was true. Everyone in the Soldier program was showered with a limited amount of Mako, but Dr. Hojo had been conducting experiments with exposing humans to very high amounts of Mako in an attempt to create a super-being. Sephiroth thought that the things inside the chambers were the results of the experiment, but maybe they were escaping somehow which would explain the sightings around Nibelheim.  
"He decompressed one of the chambers and let one of the beings fall out of its containment unit so he could get a better look at it. It was still alive, and decompressing the chamber brought it out of suspended animation. It started going into convulsions on the floor, and we were afraid it might be dangerous so we had to kill it. The whole thing really horrified me. I couldn't believe that the Shinra could actually be trying to take human beings and manufacture them into monsters.  
"There was another door at the end of that room with a sign over it that read "JENOVA." At the time neither of us knew what that meant. All Sephiroth knew was that when he was very young and growing up under the care of the Shinra, he was told that his mother's name had been Jenova. The whole situation really disturbed him and he decided that we should head back to the mansion for the rest of the day.  
"When we got back to the mansion I headed to the room that they had given me, and Sephiroth disappeared for awhile. I asked the soldier that was still with us where he'd gone, and he sad he went into the basement under ground to take a look at the library. I had no idea why he'd want to go to the library, so I went downstairs to check it out. The stairs led very far beneath the ground, and I got the impression that no one was really supposed to go down there.  
"When I reached the library in the basement I found Sephiroth reading a very thick book at a desk. There were books on shelves surrounding the entire room, and he had books scattered on the floor by his feet. He looked kind of strange and I asked him if he was alright. He didn't answer at first but then he asked me if I knew what this place was. When I said no, he told me that it was where many of the scientific notes taken by Dr. Hojo had been placed for safekeeping. There were also a great deal of books dealing with ancient history.  
"I got really confused, but he told me that it wasn't important. He said that he'd already read a great deal and that suddenly the whole world was making sense to him. He started babbling about the beginning of the world. I told him I was gonna go upstairs and get some sleep, which was what I did.  
"He stayed down there all night and all of the next day. The soldier and I were starting to get worried about him. He was acting really strange and we didn't know why. Finally I couldn't take it anymore. I went back down to the basement to see what was going on. I found him there, but he was there only in body. His mind seemed to be elsewhere.  
"He told me that it was time I learned the real history of the planet. The books that he'd read told him that the planet was originally inhabited by a race known as the Cetra, or the ones that we referred to as the Ancients. At one time they outnumbered the humans. They had special powers that allowed them to connect in some way with the very life force of the planet. The Cetra were the first to discover the magical properties of crystal materia.  
"Then a being that called itself Jenova arrived on the planet. It demanded that the Cetra deliver the crystal materia to her. When the Cetra refused, Jenova unleashed a horrifying virus that was extremely deadly to the Shinra. She was extremely powerful, and there seemed to way to defeat her. There was no record of how it was done, but in some way Jenova was presumed destroyed and her remains were sealed in a tomb to keep her there for all eternity.  
"The Cetra could find no way to cure the deadly virus that only affected them. Over time their numbers dwindled until only a handful were left. They left very few descendants in modern time, and those that were generally kept the fact to themselves. Sephiroth began telling me that humans had taken the world away from the Cetra when it was rightfully there's and that humans should be destroyed in retaliation.  
"At that point I was beginning to get frightened at the way he was behaving, but he had more history to tell me. He said that thousands of years after Jenova had been sealed away, a young Professor Hojo found her remains in rock strata dating back to around the time that the books he knew of said she had existed. He excavated the remains, and began studying them. Over time he realized that her cells were incredibly resilient, and could be reanimated to form progeny. He began what was known as the Jenova Project. Hojo was able to successfully create a "son" to Jenova. His name was Sephiroth.  
"It was at that time that I realized that Sephiroth had just been exposed to a horrifying realization of his own past. He had been created instead of born, just like the monsters we'd seen in the reactor, and the knowledge of his roll in the Jenova Project had driven him insane.  
"He insisted that as the descendant of Jenova it was his right to take back the planet from the humans. I tried to calm him down, but he was no longer the Sephiroth that I had know and respected. He had lost his mind. I tried to stop him from getting out of the library, but I was no match for him. I'd always known he was strong, but I think he may have only learned his own true strength after reading about his origin. He seemed to have the strength of a million men when he pushed me out of the way.  
"I followed him up the stairs as he walked slowly toward some unknown destination. He left the mansion and began heading back up Mt. Nibel. I met Tifa at the foot of the mountain. She was waiting for me to come out of the mansion, and she asked if she could come. I told her that something was wrong and she had to stay back, but she followed me anyway."  
"I had to, Cloud." Tifa interrupted. "I wanted to know that you were safe."  
He nodded.  
"We got to the reactor at the top and we both pursued Sephiroth to the back where he and I had been before. He was standing there, staring at the sign that read "JENOVA." I told him to stop whatever it was he was trying to do, but he wouldn't listen. Tifa ran up to him to see if she could reason with him, and that was when he took out his sword and slashed her across the chest."  
"That's where I got that scar from, Barret." Tifa said. He nodded. Things were starting to make sense now.  
"I was horrified." Cloud continued. "The Sephiroth that I had known would never do something like that. After he did that, he pounded open the door to the room that said "JENOVA" and walked in. I went to help Tifa. She had fallen down the steps that led up the door and she was pretty badly hurt. I didn't think she was gonna make it, but she told me to go after Sephiroth before he hurt anyone else. I wrapped up the wound as best I could, and then I left her by the stairs."  
"He told me he'd come back for me." Tifa said. "It was very heroic of him."  
"When I ran inside the room I saw Sephiroth standing in front of this thing that looked like a metal statue of a woman. There was a sign over it that read "JENOVA" just like the one outside the door. He started talking to it like it was a person, telling it that he was going to take back what was rightfully her's.  
"Then he walked right up to it and grabbed it. I finally realized that the thing was actually a metal capsule molded around Jenova's remains. She was inside it. He pulled on it as hard as he could, and he ripped the torso away from the tubes and wires that had it attached to the containment system. Blood spurted out of the tubes all over the place, but he didn't care. He laughed like a madman when he finally removed the metal encasement from the wall. He started babbling again about he and his mother would destroy those that had oppressed them. Then he turned around and walked right past me, without saying a word."  
"He took the damn thing with him?" Barret asked.  
Cloud nodded.  
"I followed him outside, but he was way ahead of me. He must have ran down the mountain or something. I couldn't find Tifa anywhere when I left the reactor, so I just went down by myself."  
"I had gone down already." Tifa mentioned. "Cloud did a good job patching my wound, and I was able to make it back to town. My martial arts instructor, Zangan, helped me clean it up a little better when I got back.  
"It took me a while to get back to town. When I got there, everything had gone straight to Hell. Sephiroth had already begun his revenge against humanity. He had started fires all over the village, and people were rushing all over the place to put them out."  
"I passed out from the smoke." Tifa said. "But Zangan brought me back to consciousness right when Cloud got there. I didn't really know what was gong on."  
"When I got there I saw that Tifa was being taken care of so I tried to get into my house. The flames were too thick and I couldn't get in. I remember the whole night was lit by the fire, it was so thick. There was no way for me to get into the house, and I couldn't get help from anyone because they were trying to fight their own fires. My mother died in the fire that night."  
Aeris could swear that she saw a tear drop from Cloud's eye as he said it, but he continued right away to keep himself from sobbing.  
"As I backed away from my house I saw Sephiroth in the distance. There were a couple of men trying to escape the village, and he saw them run past him. He immediately took out his sword and killed both of them. It was the most horrific thing I had ever seen a person do, and it proved to me that the Sephiroth that I had loved was completely gone. Insanity had overtaken him. Luckily, I was able to get out of the village before it burned down to the ground, and so was Tifa."  
"I escaped with Zangan." Tifa said. "He brought me here to Midgar and I opened up the Seventh Heaven bar to make some money."  
"I came here after I left Nibelheim, where I found a fellow Soldier named Zack." Cloud continued. "He and I had known each other from training. He was running from the Shinra because he had broken some sort of code and was going to be court marshaled. I told him I'd stay with him for awhile until I was ready to go back to Midgar and tell them what had happened."  
"A day later the Shinra found us here. They asked me what had happened at Nibelheim and I explained it to them. Professor Hojo was with them, and he was pissed off about Sephiroth and I going into the room where the mutated humans were being kept. He told me that I could not be allowed to leave and tell anyone in the outside world about what was being done by the Shinra.  
"He captured Zack and I, and we were brought to a low level prison where we were kept for about a year. We were finally able to escape, and we fled to Midgar. Before we got to Midgar we were attacked by a bunch of wild monsters, and they hurt me pretty bad. Zack didn't walk away from the fight. I was able to get in and get a transport to a village called Gongaga. I stayed there for the next few years working on and off as a bodyguard before I got word of Barret's offer to hire mercenaries and I came back to Midgar."  
Aeris looked really sad all of a sudden, and now Cloud could swear he saw a tear form underneath her eye.  
"What's the matter?" He asked her.  
"Do you remember when I told you that I had a boyfriend that was in soldier?" She asked. "I said he was First Class, just like you."  
"Yeah I remember." Cloud answered.  
"It was Zack. I never heard from him again after he joined Soldier. I'm kind of sad knowing that he's dead, but I guess it gives me closure. At least now I know what happened to him." She replied.  
"Oh wow I'm sorry, Aeris." Cloud said. "If it's any comfort, he was a really good guy. He was an excellent Soldier and I doubt I was still be alive today if he hadn't sacrificed himself in that fight."  
"It's okay, Cloud." She replied. "And yes, that does make me feel better. Thank you."  
Barret looked a little stunned by everything he had just heard.  
"So where did this Sephiroth dude go after he burnt down Nibelheim?" He asked.  
"He was never seen or heard from afterwards, until now." Cloud replied. "I'm guessing the Shinra must have recovered the remains of Jenova that he had taken because that was the detached torso that you and I saw in the Shinra Headquarters. When Sephiroth killed everyone in the Headquarters he took the remains with him again."  
"Why would he just show up now, instead of years ago after he destroyed Nibelheim?" Barret asked.  
"I honestly don't know." Cloud answered. "And I don't know how to find out. All I know is that I want to find him and see him again. We might be able to find out what he's trying to accomplish if we approach him."  
"I suggest that we visit my birthplace, Cosmo Canyon." Red XIII said. "My grandfather lives there. He can tell us a great deal about the planet, and I believe he can help the cause of Avalanche. He might also be able to tell us what Sephiroth is after."  
"I think that sounds like a plan." Cloud said. We'll head for Cosmo Canyon, and along the way we'll see if anyone knows anything about where Sephiroth is now. We'll have to go to Junon Harbor and get a boat ride to the West Continent, because if I remember correctly Cosmo Canyon is west of here."  
"Yes, you are correct." Red XIII replied. "We'll need to get a boat to reach Cosmo Canyon."  
"Alright then." Cloud said. "I think for right now we should all get some rest. We'll have to walk a pretty good distance tomorrow if we want to reach Junon in a decent amount of time."  
Everyone nodded, and began to settle down so they could rest. Pretty soon everyone had fallen asleep except for Cloud and Aeris. She was still laying on the bed, singing quietly to herself. Cloud was sitting in his chair examining the materia that he had bought.  
"I'm sorry you had to hear about Zack and all." Cloud said. "He really was a great guy."  
"It's okay, Cloud." She replied. "Trust me, I'm happier knowing. I'm just glad you made it back okay, or else you wouldn't be here with me now."  
Cloud blushed a little, something he hardly ever did.  
"Thanks." He said sheepishly. "Are you excited about going to Junon?"  
"Yes, very much so. I've never been so far from home before, except when I was very young before my mother died." She replied.  
"Elmyra told me about how she found you at the train station. Do you remember anything about your real mother?" He asked.  
"Yes, but very little." She answered. "She was pretty I remember. I can still kind of picture what she looked like. Her name was Ifalna. She was an Ancient, which I inherited from her. I vaguely remember a few things about my father too. I'm pretty sure he was a scientist of some sort."  
"Wow, you must have a great memory." Cloud remarked. "How old were you when Elmyra found you?"  
"I was six. My mother and I had escaped from the Shinra and we fled to Midgar. I can't remember what my birthplace was like, because the Shinra took us away from it when I was a newborn, or at least that's what my mother told me. She told me that we had lived in a very snowy place, and she told me things about my father. I wish I could have known him."  
"Wow, that's horrible." Cloud said. "What do the Shinra want with you? It seems like they've been after you you're entire life."  
"They have been." She replied. "They want me because after my mother died I was the only Ancient left on the planet. I'm the only person with the genetic memory of how to reach the Promised Land."  
"So it does exist." Cloud said, intrigued.  
"Yes, but not the way the Shinra imagine it." She replied. "They imagine it to be a place with limitless supplies of Mako that they can cash in on. But that isn't the real Promised Land. It is much more than that…much deeper."  
"How so?"  
"It's very complicated. I don't know if I can explain it exactly."  
"You don't have to if you don't want to." Cloud said. "Maybe Red XIII's grandfather can tell us."  
"He might be able to." She said. "We'll have to see how much he really knows about the planet. I know more than I think I'd like to sometimes, but I have difficulty explaining it. Some of the things I know exist just as feelings, and I can't describe them with words."  
Cloud nodded.  
"I understand." He said. "I think maybe we should both get some rest now. We'll sleep the rest of today and tonight, and we'll wake up early tomorrow morning to set out for Junon."  
"Okay." Aeris answered. "Why don't you come lay by me?"  
He got up from his chair and laid down on the bed next to her. She put her head on his shoulder and snuggled up close to him. It felt nice having someone so close to him like that. She quickly fell asleep, and he began to feel sleepy himself. He felt a great degree of comfort having her there next to him, and it didn't take long for him to doze off dreaming of the day to come.  
  
***  
  
Cloud woke up before everyone else, and he despite his efforts not to, he woke up Aeris when he tried to get up. They got their things together and then woke up everyone else. Cloud began distributing the materia to everyone so that they would be prepared for their trip to Junon.  
His sword was already equipped with a lightning materia. He added an "all" materia which he had purchased, which was a different kind of materia. It allowed the magic to be distributed across a wider range when the magic was cast so that it could be used against multiple enemies.  
Next he helped Barret equip his gun-arm with the ice materia that Barret already owned. Tifa insisted on not having any materia, since she figured she'd be just fine using her martial arts skills. Cloud finally compromised with her, equipping her gloves with a "sense" materia which gave her the ability to sense the relative strength of the enemy.  
Cloud was pleasantly surprised to find that the traditional hair ornament that Red XIII kept on his head could be equipped with materia. Red XIII was delighted to be given a fire materia, which fit him quite well considering the flame at the end of his tail and the color of his fur.  
Finally, he equipped Aeris' staff with a cure materia. It was the only magic that she was familiar with, and she felt comfortable using it. She liked the idea that should a battle break out, she wouldn't necessarily have to kill anyone but she would have the ability to magically heal the others.  
When Cloud was satisfied that they were ready for the journey, they left Kalm and set out for Junon Harbor. It was dawn when they left the inn, but before long the sun had come up and had bathed the land with its brilliant light. As they left Kalm they got closer to the ocean separating them from the west continent, and the sun reflected off the surface of the water.   
It reminded Cloud of the times he'd gone to the beach with his mother before he left to join Soldier. He continued forward, with a vision firmly planted in his mind of the last time he had seen his mother. She had been smiling, and in a way the image reminded him of Aeris. When he looked at it that way, it was a pleasant thought.  



	13. Marching Onward

Chapter Eleven: Marching Onward  
  
  
Cloud decided that it would be best to rent chocobos before they set out for Junon Harbor. The large birds were excellent runners and would give them a quick mode of transportation. The nearest chocobo farm wasn't far from Kalm, and the owner sold Cloud five hardy chocobos for a reasonable price.  
The party, now mounted on chocobos, made it to the Mythril Caves in a decent amount of time, but it was still nearing sundown by the time they reached them. The Mythril Caves separated the rest of the east continent from Junon Harbor, and had to be traveled through to get from one end to the other. In front of the caves was a swamp. It was inhabited by a monster known as the Midgar Zolom, a gigantic snake-like creature that was incredibly tough to kill.  
Cloud took a chance fording the swamp on the backs of the chocobos, but they made it across quickly enough that there was no danger. When they reached the other end of the swamp, they dismounted from the chocobos, which instinctively ran back to the farm in which they had been breeded.  
Aeris gasped as they approached the entrance to the cave. In front of it there was a huge wooden spike stuck in the ground. There was a Midgar Zolom impaled on it. Its thick red blood covered the ground beneath the spike.  
"Who could have done this?" She asked under her breath.  
"Sephiroth is the only man one the planet that could possibly be strong enough to do something like this." Cloud answered. "He must have come this way. I wonder if he was heading for Junon too."  
They entered the cave only to find the Turks walking down one of the routes. They were all there except for Reno.  
"Hey those are the sons of bitches that cut Reno!" Rude yelled. "And that dog thing took a chunk out of Professor Hojo's neck!"   
He was about to run at them but Tseng, the leader, held him back.  
"We don't have time, Rude. We'll deal with them later." He warned.  
"Yeah, we're going after Sephiroth." Elena spoke up. "He killed that Zolom outside the cave."  
"Elena!" Tseng yelled at her. "If you'll please, do not tell Avalanche what our mission is!"  
"Oops." She said, blushing. "Sorry."  
"I suggest you all leave now." Tseng said to Cloud and his companions. "Rufus was merciful with you when you appeared at the Headquarters but I don't think he'll do you the same courtesy twice in a row. If you know what's best for you, you'll turn around and go back to where you came from."  
Cloud opened his mouth to retort, but Elena beat him to it.  
"Yeah, we're going to Junon 'cause that's where Tseng thinks Sephiroth is." She said.  
Cloud was beginning to get the impression that the blond woman wasn't all that bright.  
"Perhaps you didn't understand what I told you before, Elena." Tseng admonished.  
"Ooh, sorry." She replied, blushing again.  
"Forget it. Come on, we're pressed for time." He said, and then turned to Cloud once again. "I'm warning you, do not pursue us. I won't hesitate to kill you if I see you again."  
With that, he turned around and walked off followed by Elena and a very hesitant Rude.  
"Do you really think Sephiroth is at Junon?" Barret asked, after the Turks had left.  
"I don't know." Cloud replied. "But he's definitely been this way, so that's probably where he's headed if he isn't already there."  
"Then let's go!" Aeris encouraged them. "We don't have any time to waste!"  
She ran forward the way that the Turks had gone, and the others followed her. Before long they had exited the cave on the other side, and they could see Junon Harbor off in the distance.  
Junon was the Shinra's only major naval base, and for that reason it was heavily armed. It was built into the side of a cliff that bordered the water, and the city sprawled up the entire cliff face. It was built in a similar manner to Midgar, with the military base on top and the poor living in slums beneath it. In the front of the base there was a gigantic cannon which could be fired to hit a target halfway across the world. It hadn't been used since the Midgar-Wutai war, but it was still very intimidating.  
When they finally reached the harbor they had to enter through the slums. A few poor beggars approached them and Barret insisted that Cloud give them some money. Cloud said they would only use it to buy alcohol and that he should give them food instead, but he wound up giving them a few Gil anyway.  
To the west of them was the beach, and Cloud decided to head there to see if any boats were available. Unfortunately, the beach was covered by structures holding up the base above. There were no boats at all, and the only person in the dirty water was a young girl.  
"Do you know where we can find a boat to rent?" Cloud asked her. She looked quite young. Maybe eleven or so.  
"Leave me alone. I'm trying to play with my dolphin." She answered.  
"Charming isn't she?" Aeris commented.  
Now that she had said it, Cloud noticed that there was a dolphin swimming around in front of her.  
"That's your dolphin?" Cloud asked. "That's interesting. I've never seen one tamed like that."  
The girl turned around from petting her dolphin to look right into Cloud's eyes.  
"I told you to leave me alone." She said.  
Cloud shrugged.  
"Alright, whatever." He said. "Enjoy your dolphin you little brat."  
She scoffed and then turned back to her dolphin. Cloud turned around and beckoned for everyone else to follow. They were on their way back to the town when they heard a shrill scream come from behind them.  
"Help!" A voice screamed. It was the voice of the young girl.  
"Did you hear that, Cloud?" Aeris asked. "It sounds like that girl is in trouble."  
"Everyone who thinks we should ignore her raise your hand." Barret said, raising his hand. Aeris smacked him lightly in the arm.  
"That's a horrible thing to say, Barret!" She said. "We have to help her! Come on Cloud."  
She ran back to the beach, towing Cloud behind her by the hand. Tifa and Red XIII ran after them, and Barret finally walked back behind them, albeit reluctantly.  
The girl had fallen into the water and had been swept out far enough in the water that she couldn't swim her way back. She had screamed as hard as she could, but by the time Cloud got there it was silent. She had sunk beneath the surface.  
He ran up to the shore, pulled off his shoulder armor and shirt, and dove into the water. He swam out to where the dolphin was frantically swimming in a circle around its fallen companion. He swam downward and grabbed her arm and pulled her to the surface. Then he dragged her behind him as he swam back to the beach where everyone else was waiting.  
Trudging out from the water, he placed her unconscious body on the sand. An old man had run down to the beach after hearing the screaming.  
"Priscilla!" He yelled. "Priscilla are you okay?"  
"Is that her name?" Cloud called back to him. He nodded as he ran toward her.  
He tapped lightly on her cheek.  
"Priscilla? Priscilla are you okay?" He asked her unmoving body. She did not answer. He tilted her head back and put his ear to her mouth, looking at her chest. Then he placed two fingers at the top of her neck, right where it met with the chin.  
"She isn't breathing but she has a pulse." He said to the old man. "I'm gonna try to give her rescue breathing."  
"Please, sir, do whatever you can." The man replied nervously. "She's only twelve years old."  
Cloud nodded, and then tilted her head back again. He placed his mouth over hers and gave two breaths.  
"One and two and three and four and…" He said, in between breathing into her. He kept doing it for a minute or so, the others nervously waiting to see if she would be okay. Finally, she began to cough up water all over her chest. Cloud backed off to give her room to breathe.  
"Are you okay?" Cloud asked.  
"Yeah, I'm alright." She managed to choke out between labored breaths. "Did you…save me?"  
"Yes he did." The old man answered for him. "He saved your life, Priscilla. You should thank him. He's a real hero."  
"Thank you." She said quickly, and than ran off toward the town.  
"I'm sorry." The man said to Cloud. "She has a little trouble dealing with people. Her social skills could use a little work."  
"It's okay." Cloud replied. "I couldn't let her just die out there."  
"Well, I'm glad you knew how to save her. I don't think I could have done as good a job myself." The man said. "Listen, if you want you can spend the night at my home. It's nothing too special, but I can give you all a place to rest and some good food. What do you say?"  
"That's a pretty hard offer to pass up." Barret said. "I don't think we can refuse."  
"Well come on then." He said, smiling. "You folks from around here?"  
"No." Cloud replied. "We're actually here because we're trying to find a way to get to the West Continent. You don't happen to know where we can find a boat there, do you?"  
"No, I'm sorry but I really don't." The man answered. "Most of us here are too poor to even think about leaving."  
"That's alright." Cloud replied. "We'll see if we can find anything in the morning."  
The old man nodded, and then led them to his house. He had a very cozy cottage that was actually much nicer than most of the other houses in the town. The girl lived in a house that was built above his, similar to an apartment style with a stairway connecting the two buildings. The man never said anything about it, but Cloud got the impression that he was her grandfather.  
He gave them all a very good meal, and then gave them beds to sleep in. They were all exhausted from their trip from Kalm and they fell asleep quickly. Even Cloud fell asleep early, and he would remember that as the best night's sleep he'd ever had.  
He woke up early the next morning to the sound of loud music coming from above. Curious, he woke up the others and told them to get ready.  
"Rufus got here last night." The old man told him when he asked about the music. "He's taking a boat over to the West Continent. The military folk up there are giving him a bon voyage party or something like that."  
"If we can find a way onto that boat, that'll be our ticket to Cosmo Canyon." Cloud said. "I say we go to the base and sneak our way aboard."  
"That won't be easy, young fella." The old man warned. "They have pretty tight security. But then again, Priscilla figured out a way once. She's a bright young girl, you know."  
"And so polite too." Barret said sarcastically. A sharp look from Tifa kept him from saying anything else.  
"Let me talk to her." She said to Cloud. "Maybe I can get her to help us."  
Tifa walked out of the old man's house and went up the stairs to Priscilla's house. Within moments, she came back out of the house with Priscilla behind her.  
"Priscilla says she thinks she can help." Tifa said, as she approached Cloud. Priscilla ran ahead toward the beach.  
"How'd you get her to come?" Cloud asked, once Priscilla was out of hearing distance.  
"I had a little girl to girl talk with her." She replied. "You know…female stuff."  
Cloud looked at her skeptically.  
"Come on, what did you really do?" He asked, smiling.  
"Ok fine." She admitted. "She said she wanted to help, and she was on her way out when I got there. She even thanked us about saving her, but kind of under her breath."  
"I thought so." Cloud said. "You haven't gotten any better at lying since you were a kid."  
Down by the beach Priscilla had met up with her dolphin friend and was petting him again. When Cloud reached the beach, she got up to talk to him. Tifa wasn't far behind and the others were on their way.  
"I can only send one of you up there." She said. "My dolphin gets kind of tired."  
"You're dolphin?" Cloud asked.  
"Yup. If you go swim in the water and whistle to him, he'll flip you up with his nose. Then you can grab onto that metal thingy up there and climb the rest of the way up."  
"You mean that girder over there?" Cloud asked.  
"Yeah, whatever. That thingy."  
"There are electrical lines running up there. I could get shocked if I hit one."  
"So don't hit one!" She yelled impatiently.  
Cloud was starting to get angry, but Tifa put her hand on his shoulder to calm him down.  
"Okay, Priscilla. We understand." She said. "Cloud are you gonna go up?"  
"Yeah, I'll go. I'll see if I can find a way to get you guys up there once I reach the top." He replied.  
He swam out to about the same spot where Priscilla had sunk beneath the water. It was right beneath the girder that he needed to grab onto. When he got there he started to tread water.  
"Ready?" Priscilla called to him. He nodded. "Okay, here goes!"  
She put her fingers to her lips and let out a sharp whistle. The dolphin immediately swam toward where Cloud was treading water and dove beneath him. It got its nose firmly beneath his feet and flipped him upward toward the girder. With arms outstretched, he grabbed onto the girder and pulled himself up.  
"See you at the top, Tifa!" He called down to her. She gave him a thumbs up, and then he turned around to climb the rest of the way.  
It wasn't a particularly long way to the top, and he got a good view of the sea on the way up. When he reached the top, he pulled himself over and found that he was at the landing pad. Not far from where he was standing, the huge Shinra airship was hovering over the pad, tethered to it with long metal rope. Huge propellers spun above the top keeping it afloat, and he could see guards walking around on the canopy.  
To his right was a lift. He got on it and took in downward. It led him into the base itself. There were Shinra guards and soldiers running all over the place rushing to get ready for the parade. A commander dressed in red was running past him when he stopped in his tracks and turned around.  
"Why are you so wet, soldier?" He asked.  
"Uh…uh." Cloud searched for an excuse. "I had a little accident in the bathroom. I think the sink is broken."  
"Well, we'll have to have someone fix it. Now go get dressed, the parade is starting in five minutes!"  
Cloud nodded, and then the commander continued running in the direction from which he'd come. He walked over to a nearby room and walked inside. It appeared to be a locker room. There were a couple of soldiers sitting on a bench in the middle of the room, frantically getting into their uniforms. Cloud walked over to a locker that was halfway open. There was still a uniform inside it. He dried off his wet clothes with a towel inside the locker, and then put the uniform on over them. The hood which all soldiers had to where fit over the face, covering their features. It would do an excellent job of concealing his identity.  
"I remember when I used to get a thrill every time I put this uniform on." Cloud thought to himself. "What was I thinking. It doesn't even look nice."  
He looked at himself in a mirror real quick to make sure he didn't look too conspicuous. The bright blue uniform really was ugly, but it would fit his purposes for now. He grabbed the standard issue rifle that was also in the locker and turned around. The other two men left the locker room, and he followed them out. They ran through a door on the right side of the corridor outside of the locker room, with him right behind them.  
The door led outside to a large runway. There were soldiers lining the sidewalks, and camera crews were scattered across the whole area. The base was elevated high above the ground and Cloud could see for miles from where he was. He almost wished he could just enjoy the view without having to go anywhere.  
The parade had already started, and there were rows of soldiers walking by through the runway. The formations broke at regular intervals to make room for a car carrying a Shinra military official of some importance. Cloud guessed that the car at the head of the parade was carrying Rufus. It was probably headed for wherever the boat was docked.  
He ran up to the sidewalk and tried to blend in with the other soldiers standing there. He wondered why they were standing there, but he realized the reason when the next formation walked by on the runway. Quickly and gracefully the soldiers on the sidewalk moved into formation behind those already on the runway.  
He waited for the next formation to approach, and then he ran into formation. He had done this a few times when he'd been in Soldier so he knew the routine. As soon as he fell into formation he walked in pace with the rest of them, holding his gun in the proper position over his chest.  
The parade didn't extend for that long. It ran around the perimeter of the base and at one point passed beneath the cannon, which up close was an amazing sight to see. When the front of the line finally reached the dock, the parade ended and the non-military audience began to walk onto the runway and mingle with the soldiers. From the gist of the conversations going on around him, Cloud could tell that Rufus was going to give a farewell speech and then board the boat. He didn't have much time.  
Dodging in and out of the people around him, Cloud pushed his way forward to the front of the crowd. He could see Rufus walking up to a podium, and behind him the large boat was opening up a cargo door on it back end.  
"Ladies and gentleman, if I can have your attention please." Rufus began. "The members of the military that are now present are all aware of the current situation, but I don't think the facts have been made entirely clear to the general public. For that reason, I am going to explain them before I leave so that those of you watching at home may understand a little better what has happened."  
He paused for a moment, just as he'd seen his father do hundreds of times, and then continued.  
"The Shinra Headquarters in Midgar was invaded by an intruder a few nights ago. Many of our best employees were murdered by an as yet unidentified assassin. In his wake he left the Headquarters in a shambles, and he took the life of our great President. As his son, I am now heir to his company.  
"I know that the media has been criticizing the fact that I am accepting the position instead of appointing someone else, because of my young age. I must assure you that I have a great deal of experience from working with my father. I intend to lead the Shinra company into a new age, and revolutionize the industry to make all of your lives easier. I also intend to find the man who murdered my father, because I trust that like myself you'd all like to see that man tried and executed.  
"Now, before I overstay my welcome let me bid you all adieu, as my father used to say. I want to thank the Shinra military corps. for the wonderful parade, even after such short notice that I was coming here. And on that note, I'll be leaving you. For those of you not stationed here at the military base, enjoy the rest of your stay in Junon."  
He descended from the podium and entered the ship's cargo doors to a round of loud applause. Heidegger got on the podium and dismissed the soldiers to return to their posts, and invited the civilians and members of the media to a luncheon. Cloud saw his opportunity and ran toward the open cargo doors to the boat. With the chaos of soldiers running back to wherever they were supposed to be, he figured he could go unnoticed.  
"Psst. Hey Cloud!" He heard from the inside of the boat. It was a familiar voice.  
"Tifa? Is that you?" He called over the noise around him.  
"Yeah! Come on, get on the boat before it leaves!"  
He did at she had told and hopped onto the boat just as the doors began to close. Tifa grabbed him and pulled him behind some cargo boxes.   
"Hey, wait for me!" Heidegger yelled, seeing that the doors were closing. He ran inside just as they were about to close. He brushed himself off, and then walked upstairs and out of view.  
The boat shook as it detached from the dock and began to pick up speed. Cloud looked around him as the boat rumbled to life beneath his feet. They were in a large cargo area. It was littered with boxes. On the other end of the room was a door, and in front of it a large stairwell that led upward. Save for himself and Tifa, the only other person he could see in the room was a guard standing in front of a door near the stairwell.  
"How did you guys get in the boat?" Cloud asked.  
Tifa was wearing a blue Shinra uniform just like Cloud's. She took off the hood, and Cloud did the same.   
"We bribed the guy that was guarding the elevator to the base back in town. He let us take the elevator to the base, and then we found a locker room where we got dressed." She answered.  
"Did you hear Rufus' speech back there?" Cloud asked. She nodded.  
"Sounds like he's after Sephiroth too." She said. Cloud nodded.  
"Where's everybody else?" He asked.  
"Aeris is in here somewhere. She hid behind a different crate." She answered. "Barret and Red XIII went up those stairs. Everybody is wearing Shinra uniforms so they might be hard to find.  
"I'll do my best." He said. "I'm gonna try to find the others. You stay here and try to look like you're supposed to be here."  
"Will do." She said cheerfully. "Good luck finding everyone.  
Cloud got up from his hiding spot and put on his hood. He rose to his feet, carefully looking to see if the guard realized that he'd been hiding behind the box. The guard saw him but it didn't seem to phase him. He walked forward, glancing at the boxes to his sides. Finally, he saw Aeris hunched over behind one of the smaller boxes.  
"You okay down there?" He asked.  
"Yeah I'm fine. Just a little seasick." She answered.  
"I'm gonna go to the main deck to look for Barret and Red XIII." He said. "Do you want to come with me? The fresh air might help a little."  
"No thanks, Cloud." She replied. "If I close my eyes and concentrate on something else I don't notice it as much."  
"Well, okay. Stay there and try to feel better. I won't be far if you need me." He started to walk toward the stairs, but she stopped him in his tracks.  
"Cloud?" She called softly.  
"Yeah?"  
"Thanks." She said. He smiled and nodded to acknowledge her, and then turned back toward the stairs.  
The stairwell led to a raised platform on the main deck of the boat. He had an excellent view of the ocean from there. He could see the rippling water that surrounded them on the small boat, and Junon Harbor looming in the distance. He could still see the huge cannon hanging out in front of the base.  
He looked around on the main deck. There were a few officers fixing equipment in the back of the boat. There was an observation platform toward the front end of the boat. A Shinra guard seemed to be lumbering around on it. At first it looked as though he was limping severely, but then Cloud realized who it was. He ran over to the other platform to speak to the "man."  
"Red XIII?" Cloud greeted him.  
"Cloud, is that you?" He asked. He stopped lumbering around, and immediately fell over. "They told me to put on one of these stupid uniforms and pretend I was human. I must look ridiculous."  
"No offense, but you do." Cloud said. "I think you should go downstairs before somebody sees you walking like that and starts to wonder."  
Red XIII nodded and head toward the stairwell from which Cloud had come.  
"Hey, do you know where Barret is?" Cloud asked as Red XIII started to leave.  
"I think he's by the bridge. I saw him go that way."  
"And one more thing. How'd you learn to walk on your hind legs like that. It was pretty cool.  
"Something I learned to do when I was younger. It's quite a lot of fun for a quadruped like myself, to be honest." He answered. Then he turned around and again headed for the stairs, on all fours as usual.   
Cloud headed for the bridge at the front of the ship. There was a window on the side, and he found Barret there with his hood off, peaking into the window.  
"You really should keep that hood on, Barret." Cloud said.  
Barret jumped.  
"Cloud is that you?" Barret asked. "You scared the shit out of me, man."  
"Sorry." Cloud replied. "What are you doing?"  
"I'm looking at that Rufus piece of shit and that fatass. I think his name's Heidegger." Barret answered. "They're having an argument or something."  
Cloud nodded.  
"It gets me so pissed off." Barret continued. "They're both right there, on the other side of that thin piece of glass. All I have to do is raise my arm and I could blow away both of those motherfuckers. But I can't because that wouldn't accomplish anything in the long run. It still pisses me off though."  
He growled, and then beat his chest with his fist and gun-arm. Cloud put his hand on his shoulder.  
"Calm down, Barret. It's not a big deal." He said. "You'll get your chance."  
"I hope so." Barret replied.  
At that moment an alarm began to sound.  
"Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert!" Pounded out of the speakers scattered around the ship. Through the window, they could see Rufus and Heidegger spring to attention.  
"Shit! They found us." Barret said.  
"Intruder Alert! All Shinra officers be warned! There is an intruder in the lower control decks! Repeat: There is an intruder in the lower control decks!" The speakers shouted.  
"What the…?" Barret said, dumbfounded.  
"It's not us." Cloud said, confused. "None of us went into the lower control decks. There must be somebody else here."  
"I say we find everybody else and figure out what the hell is going on." Barret suggested. Cloud nodded, and they head back for the stairwell. Rufus and Heidegger remained safely in the bridge.  
They were about to reach the stairwell when Aeris, Tifa, and Red XIII came up first.  
"What was that all about?" Tifa asked.  
"Somebody else is on this ship, and I think I might know who it is." Cloud said.  
"No, you don't think…?" Tifa didn't finish the question. Cloud knew what she was going to ask anyway, and he replied with a nod.  
"I'm going down there. Anybody who wants to come, let's go." Cloud said. He ran down the stairs, and not surprisingly everyone else followed.  
The guard who had been in front of the door near the bottom of the stairs was gone. The cargo room was completely deserted. Cloud quickly kicked open the door and headed down the small flight of stairs. There wasn't anyone on the control deck either.  
"Where the hell did everyone go?" Cloud asked, to no one in particular.  
"Maybe he got them all already." Tifa suggested.  
Cloud nodded. It certainly was a possibility. He ran forward to another door, and headed inside. There was a man standing at a platform toward the other end of the small control room. He was wearing a captain's uniform.  
Cloud sniffed at the air.  
"Something smells funny in here." He said. "Almost like…blood."  
He walked over to the captain, who had not moved at all since they'd gotten in the room. He put his hand on the man's shoulder, and he immediately slumped to the ground. He had a large stab wound in his chest.  
"Where are you Sephiroth?!" Cloud cried out, gently laying the man's body on the floor. "I know you're down here. What do you want? Why are you killing innocent people?"  
A maniacal laugh seemed to come out of nothingness and reverberate through the whole deck. At the sound, Tifa and Aeris inched closer to Barret, clearly frightened.  
"Innocent! I think not!" A voice cried out. It was a familiar voice. A voice that sparked thousands of pleasant and unpleasant memories in Cloud's mind.  
Suddenly, a man appeared floating in the air in front of them. He was wearing a long black cape, and he was carrying a bloody mass under his arm. In his other arm he held a long, elegant sword. His long, silver hair flowed behind him as he stayed their hovering before them. It was a man who Cloud had not seen in years. It was a man that Cloud thought he would never see again. That he hoped he would never see again. It was Sephiroth.  
"You human fools. Always thinking you're so innocent. If you only knew the meaning of the word." He spoke.  
"Please, Sephiroth. These people haven't done anything wrong. It's the ones at the top, like Rufus, that are hurting the planet." Cloud said.  
"You speak like you think you know what you're talking about." Sephiroth sneered. "But of course you don't."  
"Don't you recognize me?" Cloud asked. "I'm Cloud Strife. We fought together many years ago."  
"I never knew anyone named Cloud." Sephiroth answered. "You are of no use to me."  
"What is it that you want, Sephiroth?" Cloud asked.  
Sephiroth said nothing. He looked like he was preoccupied with something else. Finally he just smiled. He slashed at the air with his sword, and then disappeared just as quickly as he had appeared in the first place.  
"Where the hell did he go?" Barret asked.  
"He is the most powerful man in the world." Cloud replied. "He can control any kind of magic. If he wants to float in mid-air or disappear whenever he wants, he can do it."  
"He still had that disgusting Jenova thing under his arm." Aeris said.  
"Yeah, that guy's a pretty sick fuck." Barret said. "What the hell is his problem anyway? I thought you said you knew him?"  
"I did." Cloud answered. "But that was before he went insane. There's no reason left in him now. He's going to keep killing innocent people until he's stopped."  
"I don't understand, though." Aeris said. "If he went into hiding for so long when people thought he was dead, why did he decide to come back right now. He went and grabbed his mother from the Headquarters, killed the President, and now he's on a killing spree. It doesn't make any sense."  
"I wish I knew the answer to that, Aeris." Cloud said. "I hope Red XIII's grandfather can give us some answers."  
"Hey, if the captain is dead than aren't we going to crash into the dock?" Tifa asked nervously.  
"Looks to me like everyone is dead." Cloud said. "But Rufus and Heidegger are still at the bridge. They can probably pull us into the dock."  
"Well then let's get on the main deck so we can get the hell out of here as soon as we dock." Barret said. "I don't want to stick around while that sicko is still here."  
They head back the way they'd come and made it quickly to the main deck. Rufus was still in the bridge area with Heidegger, manually pulling the boat into the harbor. Looking around the boat, Cloud could see that they had reached the West Continent. In front of the boat was a small dock and what appeared to be a beach resort for travelers.  
The boat was very slow to dock, but when it finally did they jumped off the front and landed on the wooden dock. There were people in bathing suits roaming around the boardwalk, looking curiously at the boat that had just docked. There were a few waverunners docked next to the large boat. Men in sunglasses that were sitting on their waverunners stared at the boat with the same curiosity as everyone else around.  
"Damn it's hot here." Barret said.  
The dock was an extension of a large beach resort. Not far from them was a small beach right on the water that was filled with sunbathers. A few people were swimming in the ocean. Above the beach area there were several bars, a few shops, and a motel. There were a lot of people around, and it appeared to be very popular. The sun was beating down heavily, and Cloud was already starting to sweat.  
"Cloud, can we stay here for the day?" Aeris asked. I want to get a tan.  
"Oh me too!" Tifa agreed.  
"Yeah, alright." Cloud said. "But stay out of clear view. Rufus is gonna come out of that boat soon and I don't want him to see any of us."  
"As long as we're here I'm gonna go to the bar and get a drink." Barret said. "Wanna come with me?"  
"Yeah sure." Cloud replied. "You girls are gonna go to the beach right?"  
They nodded.  
"What about you, Red?"  
"I think I'll just go lay down in the shade." He answered.  
Cloud shrugged.  
"Suit yourself." He replied.  
Barret started to walk in the direction of the nearest bar, and Cloud went to follow him. Tifa ran off toward the beach. She hadn't swam in the ocean in years, and she was anxious to do it again. Aeris approached Cloud before he could walk off.  
"Hey, Cloud. Do you think I would look good with a tan?" She asked.  
"Sure. I mean, not that you don't already look good." He answered, a little nervously. "But I do think you'd look good with a tan."  
She smiled.  
"Okay, thanks." She said, and then followed Tifa to the beach. Cloud headed off in the direction that Barret had gone. He was in the mood for a good drink, to take his mind off of Sephiroth. Everyone else seemed to have already forgotten about it, but he couldn't let go of it. There was something very disturbing about seeing him again.  
As Cloud left to head after Barret, Rufus and Heidegger walked to the front of the boat and gently dropped to the ground. Rufus had brought the boat into the dock the wrong way, so they couldn't exit through the back door. There was a helipad not far from the dock, and a Shinra helicopter was landing in the distance and Rufus looked around him.  
"Are you sure you checked the whole boat?" He asked Heidegger.  
Heidegger gave one of his hearty, chest shaking laughs.  
"I told you three times." He said, laughing. "I checked the whole boat. They're all dead, even the captain."  
"That isn't funny, Heidegger." Rufus admonished. "My father might have tolerated that stupid laughter, but I'm not going to. It's probably the most annoying sound I've ever heard."  
That wiped the smile off of the larger man's face.  
"Sorry." Was all he could say.  
"You checked all their bodies right?" Rufus asked. "You're sure it was Sephiroth?"  
"Yeah, it had to be." Heidegger replied, being uncomfortably serious.  
"Alright, let's get on the helicopter." Rufus said. "I don't know how to handle this. I think this is gonna be a serious problem."  
He walked toward the helicopter without saying another word. Heidegger cursed himself for offending the young President. As he walked off to follow his boss, the men in sunglasses stared after them as though they were from another planet. Shinra executives did not generally come to the dock. They were an unusual sight indeed.  
  
***  
  
Cloud and Barret were able to find a decent, air-conditioned bar despite the fact that the resort was quite crowded. He found out from a waitress that the resort was called "Costa del Sol." He'd heard of it before, but he didn't realize it was so popular. He bought several drinks while he was in the bar, but he had a high tolerance for alcohol and it didn't affect him much. It did help him take his mind off of Sephiroth for awhile.  
After a few hours the girls got tired of sunbathing and found Cloud and Barret in the bar. Tifa approached Cloud first and told him to come talk to her.  
"Do you remember that scientist from the Shinra Headquarters? The one that you said kidnapped you?" She asked.  
Cloud nodded.  
"You mean Professor Hojo."  
"Yeah, that's him." She replied. "I think he's at the beach down there."  
"Are you serious?" Cloud said, very surprised. "Let me go take a look."  
He walked down to the beach and began to scan for a recognizable face in the crowd. Sure enough, he quickly spotted the old scientist lying on a beach chair, drinking a daiquiri.  
"Professor Hojo?" Cloud greeted him as he approached the old man. "What the hell are you doing here?"  
Hojo pulled his sunglasses over the top of his head to get a good look at Cloud.  
"You're the man who made me give up the Ancient!" He said. "You know, you really were quite rude to me back there."  
"Am I supposed to care? After what you've done to me?" Cloud retorted.  
"I don't know what you're talking about." Hojo brushed him off. "Please, leave me alone. I'm on vacation."  
"How did you manage to get away from the Shinra for a vacation?" Cloud asked.  
"They let me take some time off to rest and heal from the bite that the escaped laboratory creature gave me. He took quite a chunk out of my shoulder, you know." He said, pointing to a large white bandage near his upper shoulder and neck.  
"Besides," he continued, "I need to be on the West Continent for the Jenova Reunion anyway."  
"The what?" Cloud asked.  
"Oh, don't even bother asking. You wouldn't understand." Hojo replied. "All I'll say is that Sephiroth didn't just decide to come out of hiding now for no reason. I could have told them that he'd appear right around now, but I wasn't sure of the exact time. I'm still not completely sure when it's going to happen, but I think the Reunion will be soon."  
"I don't get it." Cloud admitted.  
"Forget it. It isn't important." Hojo replied.  
"Alright, whatever." Cloud said. "All I'm gonna say is that you're lucky I don't kill you right now. I have a feeling that a lot of the things you did in the past were more the fault of the Shinra than your own so I'm not going to."  
Hojo ignored him, and Cloud decided it wasn't worth the effort. He had more important things to concentrate on.  
"Did he say anything important?" Tifa asked when Cloud returned.  
"Only that Sephiroth has come out of hiding for a reason. He wouldn't really explain what it was. All he said was that there is a reason." Cloud answered.  
"Well, that guy creeps me out." Tifa said. "I say we stay away from the beach."  
Everyone else agreed, especially Red XIII who was a little afraid of what Hojo would do if he saw him again.  
They all decided to eat at a restaurant right on the water. It was a beautiful view, and it really helped to calm everyone and relieve the tension they were all feeling. They knew they had a lot of traveling to come if they were going to get to Cosmo Canyon anytime soon, but for now they were able to just relax.  
Afterwards, Cloud found a motel vacancy and rented a nice room with a balcony. Everyone was tired from the events of the day, but they couldn't resist sitting on the balcony for awhile and talking, with the warm night air soothing their bodies. Overhead, the stars could be clearly seen in the absence of the city lights.  
After awhile everyone went to bed except for Cloud. He stayed up for a little while longer, wondering how he was going to deal with Sephiroth. He had no idea how to reason with an insane man. He wondered if it was possible. He tried to calm himself, and the atmosphere did help. He finally fell asleep when his thoughts started drifting toward Aeris again. In the near distance, the sounds of small waves breaking on the shore broke the silence of the night.  



	14. The Gold Saucer

Chapter Twelve: The Gold Saucer  
  
  
Cloud awoke early in the morning to the same sound that he'd fallen asleep to. The waves crashing onto to the shore made a pleasant, calming sound that made Cloud feel very peaceful as he yawned and stretched. It was a great feeling to wake up near the beach. He could see himself living there, if he actually lived long enough to grow old. Sometimes he wondered if he would.  
His mind started drifting to thinking about Sephiroth. He looked the same as he had all those years ago. His long silver hair flowing behind him. His face had changed a little, though. He didn't just sound insane. He looked insane.  
Everyone else was asleep, so he headed down to the information office at the front of the hotel. He could see through the window that people had already gotten to the beach, and some were even swimming. The hotel clerk was a young woman that was shooting around at a pool table near the entrance. He talked with her for a little while, but he didn't find her to be a real good conversationalist. After awhile he got bored and told her he had to go back to the room. She gave him a map of the places nearby that she usually gave to tourists that stayed at Costa del Sol. She said he might find someplace interesting.  
He went back to the room and sat down on the edge of the bed. The map was pretty big, and he unfolded it so he could see the whole thing. On the right side of the map was the East Continent, close to the center of which was Midgar. He placed his finger on the paper and traced the path that they had already taken from Midgar to Kalm to Junon, and finally to Costa del Sol.   
He wasn't sure where they would go next. Sephiroth had obviously left the beach as soon as the boat had landed. Not far from Costa del Sol on the map was a village called North Corel. He'd heard of it before. The only reason anyone went there was because it was home to the tram that led to the Gold Saucer, a giant amusement park that was built at the top of a huge tower so that it would extend into the sky.   
He grabbed a marking pen from the desk in the room and began circling the places they should go. He figured they could probably make it to North Corel in less than a day, and they could spend some time enjoying themselves in Gold Saucer as long as they were there. He'd never been there, and it was supposed to be quite a sight to see. Afterwards, they could head for Cosmo Canyon, which wasn't far from North Corel. He was satisfied with this plan of action, so he folded the map up and laid back down on the bed.  
He dozed off for awhile, and about and hour later he woke up to the feeling of Barret's hand on his shoulder. He had the map in his hand.  
"Did you put these circles on the map?" He asked, his face twisted almost as if he was interrogating Cloud.  
Cloud sat up and rubbed his eyes. The others were awake and were sitting on the edges of the beds, talking and drinking coffee.  
"What kind of way is that to wake someone up?" Cloud asked, kiddingly. He smiled, but Barret's face remained as stone.  
"I'm not fuckin' kidding, Cloud." He replied. "Did you put these circles on the map?"  
"Yeah I did." Cloud answered, getting defensive. "What the hell's the problem?"  
"We can't go to North Corel." Barret answered, throwing the map on the floor. "End of story."  
"Why the hell not?' Cloud asked. "I figured we'd go there, stay at Gold Saucer so the girls would have something to do for awhile, and then we'd head for…"  
"I don't give a fuck what you figured." Barret interrupted. "We're not going there."  
"Look, Barret." Cloud said, getting angry. "I don't know what the fuck your problem is but I got up early just to set up that plan. If you've got a better one why don't you let us know about it."  
"I don't care what the plan is as long as we don't go to North Corel." Barret answered.  
"Well I want to know why." Cloud replied. "Because I think it would be a nice place to visit."  
"Not for anything, but I agree with Cloud." Tifa chimed in. "Why can't we go there."  
"I used to live there." Barret answered. He turned his back to both of them, seeing that he was now fighting a losing battle.  
"So?" Cloud asked. "That should be a good reason for you to want to go there."  
"I had some bad experiences there, okay." Barret replied. "And I really don't want to go back there."  
"Barret, you're a strong willed guy." Cloud said. "Whatever happened there when you were younger, try and put it behind you. It'll be a lot easier for all of us if you just suck it up and let us go there."  
With that, he got up off the bed and walked out of the room. He slammed the door behind him.  
"Asshole." Barret muttered under his breath as Cloud left.  
Everyone else in the room was speechless. Cloud came back shortly, after having something to eat. He told everyone to get their stuff together, and soon they were ready to leave. Everyone knew that Cloud had been decided on as the leader when they left Midgar, and if he said they were going to North Corel then that's where they were going to go. They left on a pleasant note, with Cloud getting the girls and even Red XIII excited about the prospect of seeing Gold Saucer. Barret remained silent the entire time.  
As Cloud had anticipated, the trip took less than a day. It was dusk when they reached the small town located near one of the West Continent's many mountain ranges. It was very run down, and it looked even poorer than the Midgar slums. The only thing of technological value that met the eye was the blue tram at the edge of the village. It was a propeller driven vehicle that could ride along two huge cables that led from the ground level to the top of the huge tower, on top of which sat the Gold Saucer amusement park.  
As they approached the village they looked upward to try and get a glimpse of the park, but the clouds were thick and they could see nothing except for the tower extending toward the sky. The town had the distinct smell of poverty, much like the slums of Midgar. Cloud recognized it as the smell of an unbathed human being.  
They walked slowly into town along a beaten dirt road that looked like it had been traveled thousands of times before them. There was a large white sign, the only clean object in the whole town, that read "Gold Saucer" with an arrow pointing in the direction that they were going. Cloud guessed that this dirty, dusty, hell hole got just enough business from travelers coming to the park to keep from disappearing from the face of the planet.  
Barret was silent the entire time, but he looked very apprehensive. They soon found out why. Across the village, a few heads began to turn as they saw him walking along the beaten path with the others. He kept his face pointing forward, but they did not. Soon, a few of the young men began gesturing to other members of the village to come. They headed down to the path along which Barret was walking and approached him. Cloud and the others tried to keep walking, but the men stood in front of them and blocked their path.  
"You guys stay out of this." Barret finally said. "This is my problem."  
He walked in front of everyone else to stand in front of the men that had confronted them. One of the younger ones, a muscular man of medium height who appeared to be in his forties, walked right up to Barret so that he was almost close enough to feel the other's breath. They stood there for what seemed like an eternity, the older man looking right into Barret's face, and Barret trying to look in another direction as if the other man wasn't even there. Then the man broke the silence, punching Barret in the midsection. Barret did not cry out, but he doubled over in pain. The fact that he stayed on his feet was a show of his strength.  
"What the fuck do you think you're doin' comin' back here, Barret?" The man asked. "You know you ain't welcome here."  
"My friends need to come through here." Barret answered through clenched teeth. The wind had been knocked out of him, and he was having trouble both breathing and standing. He was hunched over as he said it.  
"You think I give a rat's ass about your friends?" The man asked. "If they're your friends then they're my enemies."  
"Hey leave him alone, asshole!" Cloud retorted, pulling out his sword. The man backed away slightly, but a few of the other men in the back revealed old but functional guns from within their working overalls.  
"No, Cloud." Barret held him back. "Don't start a fight. I told you this is my own problem."  
"You got some balls takin' a sword out in front of my guys." The man said to Cloud. "If you didn't have two women with you I'd kill the both of you motherfuckers. I'd be doin' the world a goddamn favor."  
"Watch it, dickhead." Cloud warned. "I could kill every single one of you if I felt like it."  
"I'd like to see you try." The man retorted. "I'm gonna be nice and let you guys haul ass out of my town before I blow a good sized hole into Barret's skull."  
He turned his head to face Barret, who was still hunched over.  
"But if I ever see you back here again, I'll make sure that I personally get to make you suffer before I kill you."  
He turned around and walked quickly back to the pathetic town from which he'd come. Cloud wanted to follow him and show that he meant business, but Barret held him back.  
"Don't, Cloud." He said, sadly. "Let it go."  
Cloud looked at the sad man, holding his arm over his midsection, and felt a little sad himself. He looked a different man than he did just a day ago. Before he had been a happy, albeit easily angered, leader. Now he looked like a beaten man. Cloud wondered what could have possibly happened here years ago that would have incited the other man to such anger, and to instill such unhappiness into Barret.  
"Come on, guys." He said. "Let's just go to Gold Saucer."  
He hoped that the cheerful atmosphere of the amusement park would cheer up Barret. As much as he would hate to admit it, he was beginning to like Barret. He didn't like to see him this way.  
The terminal for the tram wasn't far from where they had been confronted. They paid the clerk operating the machine, and then they boarded the large blue vehicle. They were tethered to the two cables above, which drooped under the weight of the tram. Cloud made sure his seat belt was buckled tightly as the tram shook beneath him. In the back of the transport, the propellers had been activated and were creating a fan behind that would propel the tram up the cables and into the sky.  
As they began to ascend, everyone looked out of the windows to get a wonderful view of the world around them. They could see land, sea, and mountains for miles from their high vantage point. After awhile, Tifa became too curious to hold in her thoughts any longer.  
"Why did that man hit you back there?" She asked Barret. He was sitting with his eyes closed ignoring the view around him.  
"I don't want to talk about it." He answered, leaving his eyes closed.  
"Come on, Barret." She urged. "He was really mean to you. There had to be a reason for it."  
"Yeah, Barret." Cloud entered the conversation. "What happened when you were here that would make those men hate you so much? Did you do something wrong?"  
Barret looked like he wanted to cry, but that would be far too much of an insult to his masculinity so he held it back.  
"Yeah, I did do somethin' wrong." He answered. "I really don't want to talk about it, but I'll tell ya if you really have to know."  
"Please, Barret." Tifa replied. "Tell us. Maybe we can help."  
"I doubt that." He answered, sighing. He had opened his eyes, and his face appeared all twisted. "I hate thinkin' about these memories. That's why I told you not to make me come here, Cloud."  
He looked at Cloud with a cold stare. There was clearly some resentment over the fact.  
"I grew up in North Corel my whole life." Barret began. "Back then it was a good town. My dad was a miner, and so was his dad. It was a mining town. Back before those fuckin' Shinra bastards all our energy came from mining coal.  
"We all had pretty good money back then from the mining. I had everything I wanted. I was really happy, which is why it pisses me off so much that I screwed up."  
"What did you do, Barret?" Tifa asked. "I'm sure you couldn't have done something bad intentionally."  
"No, I didn't mean to do it!" He agreed, almost in hysterics. "But those goddamn Shinra messed with my head. They convinced me."  
"What do you mean, Barret?" Tifa asked. "Please tell us."  
"The whole town got together one day because the Shinra told us they were visiting." Barret said. "I was one of the town heads, and I had to bring everyone together. The other town head was a guy named Dyne who I was real good friends with. The Shinra sent two people, Scarlet and some other guy, to convince us to let them build a Mako Reactor to replace our coal power. They said we'd make a lot more profit off of a reactor, and they tried to convince us that it was safe and everything.  
"They gave us some time to think about it, and I thought it was a great idea. A lot of the others did too, but Dyne disagreed. He and I got into a big argument over it, but he finally agreed to let them build it. They came over and built the thing right in the middle of the goddamn town."  
He was still really broken up over talking about it, and he held his head in his hands for a few moments before continuing.  
"They told me it was safe. Safe my fuckin' ass!" He said. "Dyne and I were out of town for a few days about a month or two after they built the thing. We got into town and there were Shinra soldiers all over the place. The town was burning, I mean literally on fuckin' fire! They told us not to move anywhere. That Scarlet bitch was with them, and she told them to open fire on us."  
His eyes were burning red as he spoke. No one in the tram had ever seen him so emotional.  
"We ran like hell, but there were too many soldiers. We didn't know why the hell they were shootin' at us, so we just kept running. We wound up running right up to the edge of one of the cliffs on the outskirts of town. Dyne overran the edge and slipped off. I caught him and held him as hard as I could, but the soldiers were right behind us on an overpass that ran near the cliff. They fired down on us, and one of their bullets went right through the arm I was holding Dyne with and into his arm. We both lost our grip and he fell to the ground under the cliff.  
"I got away from those sons of bitches, but there was nothin' for me to run to. The whole goddamn town was burned down. So I got out of there, and I eventually made it to Midgar. I found out later that the reason they burned down the town was because there was a failure at the reactor that killed everyone inside and contaminated the land around it or some shit like that. Instead of suckin' it up and admitting they made a mistake, the Shinra blamed the accident on everyone in North Corel and lit the place up as an example for the rest of the world  
"I tried to get in and save everyone but the fire was too big by the time I got there. I lost Dyne and my wife, and I almost lost Marlene. Thank God she wasn't there when it happened. The survivors that knew what happened blamed the whole fuckin' thing on me instead of the Shinra, because I was the one that insisted we let them build the reactor in the first place. That's why they all hate me back there. And you know what? He was right to punch me. They have no homes because of me. This place used to be a real town, now it's just a piece of shit slum like the bottom of Midgar. I fucked up bad, and now they have nothing because of me."  
He put his head in his hands again and wept. He had lost all of his outer "manliness" and had resigned himself to cry. He couldn't help it, even in front of Cloud. Tifa rubbed his back and tried to calm him.  
"It wasn't your fault, Barret." She said softly. "It was the Shinra's fault. You know that. I know that. This is just another reason for us to be fighting them."  
"Yeah come on, Barret." Aeris chimed in. "We know you didn't mean for that to happen. Those people back there just don't know you like we do."  
Barret lifted his face, his eyes red with tears, and looked at Aeris with a cold, deep stare.  
"They know more about me than you'll ever know." He managed to say between slight sobbing. He placed his head back in the comfort of his shielding hands, and the tram became silent once again.  
Outside Cloud could see that they were approaching the amusement park. There were fireworks erupting not far from the tram lines, and they lit the night sky with brilliant flares. Above, he could see the brightly shining stars. They were so high in the sky that they had the vantage point of being above the cloud cover.  
The amusement park was huge and sprawling, covering every inch of the top of the wide pillar on which it sat, and extending upward. There were roller-coasters spanning the outer perimeter of the park, and large trams running above the roller-coasters that allowed for an excellent view, and moved at a slower pace than the one used to bring patrons to the park, making them much more enjoyable than utilitarian.  
The docking station for the tram was shaped like the head of a huge mog (a rarely seen creature that resembled a short, pudgy, teddy bear with wings and generally inhabited areas that humans had yet to venture) and the tram went through the "mouth" to reach the actual dock. As it came to rest, Cloud could see the ticket vendor outside of the tram window, and a line of people waiting to get in.  
"Looks like it's pretty popular." Cloud commented. Aeris nodded. Her eyes were flitting back and forth, as though they were trying to take in as much of the seen around them as they could. She looked completely memorized by the spectacle around her.  
Cloud exited the tram first, and got on line for the tickets. Altogether they cost 3,000 gil, which burned a significant hole in his pocket but he figured it would be worth it. Normally he was rather thrifty with his money, but he could make exceptions when he felt the time was right. The ticket vendor directed them to a lobby beyond the front desk. It was a circular room with hallways leading to each of the areas in the park. At the far end of the lobby was a large directory, giving locations and descriptions for each of the areas.  
Cloud walked over to the directory and looked at it to see what was interesting. There was a stage located near the lobby, but there were no shows playing for another hour so he quickly abandoned the idea of going there. Also nearby was a video arcade room (called Wonder Square), and the Battle Square which was described as "a place for one to show off their fighting skills and win prizes." Both piqued his interest, and he hoped he'd get to see them by the end of the night. The other destinations were the roller-coaster, the tram rides, and the chocobo racing arena which appeared to be the most popular attraction.  
"Well, I'm interested in the arcade." Cloud said as he walked back to the patienly waiting group.  
"Oh cool! An arcade!" Aeris responded. "I've never seen one before. I'll go with you, Cloud!"  
Cloud nodded.  
"Anybody else want to come with us?" Cloud asked.  
"I think I'm gonna check out the chocobo races." Tifa replied. "I've heard they're pretty exciting."  
She looked at the excitement in Aeris' eyes, and somehow she felt a warmth inside. She sighed as Cloud talked to Red XIII and Barret. There had been a time when she thought he was the only man for her. But the chemistry she saw between him and Aeris could not be denied. And somehow, it felt right for her to let them go together, alone.   
Perhaps there was something between the two of them that she could feel, but she couldn't understand. She tried to push the thoughts out of her mind and let her worries go so that she could have fun. Even though she had volunteered to see the chocobo race for the sole reason of letting Cloud and Aeris be alone, she really did think that it would be an enjoyable experience.  
"What about you Red?" Cloud was asking, as Tifa brooded in thought.  
"I think I'm going to have a seat in the theater and wait for a show to come on." Red XIII replied. "I really must give myself a rest from walking. Even animals with four legs get tired sometimes.  
"And how about you, Barret?" Cloud asked. Barret had continued his voluntary silence since the last time he had spoken in the tram. He had stopped crying, but his eyes were still red and puffy.  
"You guys all have a good fuckin' time." He said angrily. "I think you're all forgettin' what we left Midgar for."  
"We're just trying to take a little break…" Cloud tried to respond, but Barret interrupted him.  
"Whatever, I don't give a shit." He said. "You do what you want. I'm outta here."  
He stormed down the hallway leading to the fighting arena. Cloud turned to everyone else.  
"Let him go. He needs some time to think by himself." He said. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm gonna try to relax and have a good time."  
The other three nodded, and then they headed their separate ways. The hallway leading to the arcade passed through a movie theater area, and Aeris was quick to check what movies were playing.  
"You know, I've never seen a movie before either." She said to Cloud.  
"Really?" He replied. "You don't know what you're missing. Movies can be pretty cool, when they're done right."  
"My mom used to say that books were better so I wasn't really missing out on anything." She responded.  
"Well, in a way she's right." He said. "Elmyra's a smart woman."  
"I miss her." Aeris said, suddenly a little homesick. "When do you think I'll be able to see her again?"  
"I don't know." Cloud answered honestly. "Soon, I hope."  
They had begun to walk into a highly crowded area in front of the Wonder Square. There was a relatively narrow walkway leading into the arcade, and the group of people waiting to get in had to funnel into the small entrance. It provided for a natural way to lessen to crowd entering into the square. Aeris was once again looking all over the place, taking in the scenery and the atmosphere. She had never been privileged enough before to see so many people having fun in one place.  
"You like it here, don't you?" Cloud asked.  
"I love it." She replied, not taking her eyes away from the scenery for even a moment.  
Standing in the corner was a strange looking creature hopping up and down, trying to get the crowd's attention. It appeared to be a cat, standing on his hind legs on top of the shoulders of a very large and fat mog. The cat was holding a megaphone to its mouth and yelling something about telling fortunes, while the mog was rolling dice in its pudgy hands.  
"That's a weird looking thing." Cloud commented. "I wonder how it can talk."  
"Maybe a magic spell." Aeris suggested. "Hey, can we get him to tell us a fortune?"  
"That stuff is all made up nonsense." Cloud replied. "He'll probably just scam us."  
"Oh come on." Aeris said playfully. "An innocent girl like me. Come on, lets go see. It'll be fun."  
She grabbed him by the hand and pulled him toward the strange looking creature.  
"Can you tell us our fortune?" She asked as sweetly as possible.  
"Sure!!!" The cat answered through the megaphone. She recoiled back and covered her ears at the loud noise.  
"Oh, sorry." The cat apologized, without speaking through the megaphone. "I forgot I was still using that thing."  
"How can you talk?" Aeris asked, looking behind him as if she would expose some hidden microphone or recording device that could be producing a voice in the cat. She found nothing.  
"How can I talk?" The cat replied. "That is an odd question, to which I have no reply. But I can give you your fortune, for a small sum."  
"She asks you how you can talk and that was the best excuse you can come up with?" Cloud asked, amused by the strange being.  
"I'm not here to answer questions." The cat answered indignantly. Cloud noticed that although the cat appeared tall, it was only because he was standing on the shoulders of the bright pink mog. He himself was quite short. The mog was completely silent, but continued to almost nervously roll the dice in its hands. Cloud wondered if it could speak like its feline companion.  
"I am simply here to give fortunes." The cat continued. "Now, would you like me to tell you yours?"  
"Yeah, alright." Cloud answered.  
"That will be 200 gil." The cat said.  
"200 gil?" Cloud responded angrily. "What a rip off!"  
Aeris looked at him with pleading eyes. He scowled at the cat, but paid up anyway.  
"Thank you." The cat said, suddenly polite. He made an almost unnoticeable signal to the mog, and it began to roll the dice faster than it had before. After rolling them a couple of times, he threw them on the ground and the cat leaned over to read the results.  
"You are strong willed, but weak at heart." He read aloud.  
"Huh?" Aeris asked, puzzled. "Which one of us is that for? It doesn't sound like either one of us."  
The cat looked at them with a calculating gaze, as if he was giving them a once over.  
"You're right." He admitted. "I'll try again."  
The mog went through the same motions, and once again threw down the dice for the cat to read.  
"Your lucky number is 42." The cat read aloud.  
Aeris crossed her arms and gave the cat a skeptical glance.  
"That's not a fortune, that's a scam." She said.  
"Alright, let me try one more time." The cat replied. "Third time's the charm, as they say."  
The mog made the same motion again for the third and final time, and the cat leaned over on the mog's shoulders to read the results.  
"You will lose something very dear to you." The cat read, his eyes showing puzzlement as he did so. "Wow, I've never given a fortune like that before."  
Aeris looked genuinely intrigued by this fortune.  
"Do you think it will come true?" She asked the cat.  
"I have no idea." He replied, nervously. "I've really never seen something like that before."  
"So what's the big deal?" Cloud asked, skeptically. "It's not like this crap is actually real."  
"On the contrary, my spiky haired friend." The cat replied. "Fortune telling is very serious. I think it would be best if I come along with you so that I might find out whether this fortune comes true or not."  
"That's ridiculous." Cloud replied. "We don't even know you."  
"Oh, don't be so uptight." Aeris said. "We'll get to know him. I think we should give him a chance. I mean, how many chances do you think we'll have to get to know a talking cat?"  
Cloud had to admit she made a compelling point.  
"Please, sir. Let me come with you. I promise I won't be a burden." The cat pleaded.  
Aeris gave him another one of her pleading looks to follow up the cat. Cloud sighed.  
"Alright, fine." He said. "But only until we find out whether this so-called fortune is true or not."  
"Deal." The cat replied. "My name is Cait Sith. Pleased to meet you."  
"I'm Aeris, and this is Cloud." Aeris said, introducing herself and her companion.  
"If you're gonna come with us, you have to follow my rules." Cloud said. "First off, if you hear me or any of our friends talking about stuff that sounds like it might not be legal, you keep your mouth shut and don't ask questions. And if we happen to get in any fights or monsters attack us or something, you have to make yourself useful. Do you know how to fight?"  
"My mog can defend us both if need be." Sith answered.  
"So are you gonna tell us how you can talk and why you sit on the shoulders of a giant mog now?" Aeris asked.  
"No." He answered curtly. "I can't tell you that, so I suggest you just accept it and move on with your life."  
"Alright, whatever. We gotta get going if we want to see everything in a decent amount of time." Cloud said. "I say we head for the arcade."  
"Oh yeah, the arcade!" Aeris exclaimed, suddenly excited. "Let's go!"  
They spent about an hour and a half in the large arcade area. Cloud won a few prizes playing a virtual motorcycle game (which he was quite good at from experience with real motorcycles) and a basketball shooting game. Aeris spent most of her time on the virtual snowboarding machine, and Cait Sith wandered around looking for people that he knew. He was apparently a regular at the park. His strange ability to talk and his odd form of transport, sitting on the shoulders of a mog, made him a bit of an enigma. Regular visitors to the park found him to be an interesting sight indeed.  
After they'd had their fill of the arcade area, Cloud decided he wanted to check out the Battle Square. He was suddenly in the mood to show off his fighting skills, and Aeris seemed content to watch him. Cait Sith really didn't have much of a choice in the matter. As they entered the battle section of the amusement park, however, they were greeted with a chilling sight.  
There was normally a clerk in the room who stood behind a small desk, who was there to exchange money for a ticket to fight in the battles. She was there, but she was hunched behind the desk. She was quivering in intense fright. Not far from the front of the desk were two dead Shinra guards, their chests covered in circular wounds. Blood was splattered everywhere, and the smell of gunpowder hung in the air, accompanied by the pungent smell of death.  
"What the hell happened in here?" Cloud asked the woman behind the counter. He had already unsheathed his sword, and was ready to defend Aeris if anything went wrong.  
"A m-man c-came in here. He killed them." She answered. She was shaking with fear, and was slurring her words.  
"What man?" Cloud asked. "Don't worry, if he comes back I won't let him hurt you."  
She started to cry hysterically. In between sobs, words came out in short gasps.  
"He killed them both. For no reason."  
"Who killed them?" Cloud asked desperately. His eyes were darting around the deserted reception area, searching wildly for any sign of a killer who might hurt his companion. Cait Sith had backed himself into a corner and was looking around nervously.  
"T-there was a man with a gun for an arm. A big black man. He s-shot them both, and he said something about hating the Shinra." She broke into another sobbing fit.  
"Oh my God." Aeris said. "Cloud, you don't think…"  
"Barret could never do something like this." Cloud answered her unasked question. "He might be pissed off but I don't think he would kill two guards unless he was defending himself."  
"Who else could have done this?" Aeris asked. "How many guys do you know with a gun for an arm?"  
"Look, I don't know how to explain this." Cloud replied. "I need some time to think, and that lady's crying isn't helping."  
He wasn't going to get any time to think, unfortunately. Before Aeris could respond, the door behind them was swung open and Shinra guards swarmed the room. Behind them was a large muscular man, who was shirtless. The guards in the front of the pack saw their fallen comrades and then their gazes swung to Cloud, who was still holding his sword.  
"Drop your weapon!" One of the guards yelled at him. "Now!"  
"Wait a second." Cloud said, cracking a smile. "You don't think I…"  
"Shut the fuck up!" The guard yelled back. "Drop your weapon or I'll open fire."  
Cait Sith walked forward from his spot in the corner and took a position in front of Aeris so that he was between her and the armed guards. He yelled to the shirtless man.  
"Dio!" He said. "They didn't do this. We found these bodies when we got here."  
"Whatever, Sith." Dio responded, flexing his muscles as he did so. "You're a fuckin' pain in my ass. You probably did this yourself because you lost a goddamn bet or something."  
"Dio, it wasn't like that…" Sith tried to respond.  
"Drop 'em through the Gateway to Heaven." Dio responded. With that, he turned around an left, content to leave the commotion behind him in the hands of the Shinra.  
"Back up." The front guard said menacingly to Cloud.  
Faced with unsheathed swords and machine guns in the hands of at least twenty Shinra guards in their cleanly pressed blue uniforms, he had no choice but to do as he was told. He was careful to block Aeris on her right side from the guards, while Sith remained in his position covering her backside.  
The large doors on the other end of the room were opening. Normally they were the entrance to the battle ring, but they could serve another purpose as well. The guards prodded the three of them into the room which had now opened. The floor of the room did not appear to be entirely stable.   
"Welcome to the Gateway to Heaven." The guard said, sneering. He and his fellow guards pushed the helpless three into the room. The head guard laughed.  
"Enjoy!"  
Aeris jumped as the doors closed loudly in front of them trapping them in the room. Suddenly the floor beneath them opened up, plunging them into darkness. At first Cloud felt like he was free falling, and for a few seconds he wondered if he was going to die the next time he felt bottom. But before he had time to brood over it, he felt a slope beneath him, and he realized he was on a slide of sorts. They flew quickly down the tunnel on the slide, Aeris screaming and Cait Sith holding desperately onto his fellow mog.  
Soon, Cloud could once again see light at the end of the tunnel. As the hole became bigger and bigger in his view, they only seemed to go faster and faster. He felt hot air rush past him and bombard his face as they flew through the hole and landed on the ground hard. Cloud felt as though his whole body had just been broken as he tried to stand up on the sandy ground beneath him. The ride down the slide had been almost a rush, but the landing was physically taxing. Near him, Cait Sith didn't seem to be injured but Aeris was groaning in pain.  
"You okay over there?" Cloud asked, rubbing his arm. He'd landed on his side and that arm had taken most of the force of the fall. He was surprised it wasn't broken.  
"Yeah, I'm alright." Aeris answered through clenched teeth. "My arm hurts a little, that's all."  
"Same here." Cloud replied. "Looks like our cat friend is indestructible. How come you aren't in pain, Sith?"  
"Oh, I uh…" Sith started to respond, "I was just lucky I guess. My mog broke my fall."  
"He looks like he isn't hurt either." Cloud said, suspiciously.  
"He'd good at hiding pain." Sith responded, getting defensive. "Look, everyone's okay now so just accept it and…"  
"Move on with your life." Cloud finished the sentence. "Alright, whatever. Let's get going. I'm watching you, Sith."  
The cat's hands went up in the air, suggesting his innocence, but Cloud ignored him. He was already trying to survey his surroundings. They appeared to be in a small wooden hut. They were alone, save for a few wooden boxes littering the dusty, sandy ground. There was an open doorway on the other end of the hut and Cloud walked outside.  
"Holy shit." Cloud said, dumbfounded. "This must be the desert prison."  
Not far from them was what appeared to be a prison town. There were a few men walking around in shackles, but for the most part the thugs that were scattered around the town were unencumbered. There were no walls around the prison either, just an old, tattered wooden fence, in front of which a few dead bodies had been unceremoniously placed. Outside that fence was miles and miles of desert. No one could escape this place alive. At least Cloud had never heard of anyone being able to do it.  
He looked upward to see that they were now beneath the Gold Saucer itself. The clouds still blocked it from view, but Cloud knew it was there. He started to walk toward one of the old wooden houses but a few large, bulky men began to step in front of him so that he could not. He was beginning to get the feeling that the criminals in this place were very territorial. He turned around and grabbed Aeris by the hand. If any of the thugs down here wanted to get to her, they'd have to go through him first.  
Not far from where they were standing, or rather walking very slowly, was a shack with the door open. There didn't appear to be any men hanging around it so Cloud began to head in that direction. He was right about there not being any men right in front of the shack, but wrong about men being near it. They were not even halfway there before a group of three large men approached them.  
"Hey sweet thang." The largest one said to Aeris. "You wanna give big daddy some sucky sucky?" He licked his lips as he said it. One of the other men was staring at Aeris' chest, while the third was eyeing Cloud.  
"Hey leave her alone, asshole." Cloud said. "Get the fuck outta here."  
"Hey what'd you say?" The second man asked. "I'll crack your neck and rape your fuckin' girl, you talk to me like that."  
"Try it, dickhead. I'll have you in a puddle of your own blood before your hand gets halfway to my neck."  
The man's face turned red, and before the other two thugs even knew what was happening he lunged for Cloud's throat. In a split-second, Cloud had his sword in hand and he swung it forcefully at the man's chest. Cloud heard the man's ribcage crack as he doubled over from the blow and began to spurt blood on the barren ground beneath him.  
The other two men, too stupid to run, lunged at Cloud like their fallen companion. In one clean swipe, Cloud took of one of their heads and swiped the other in the face. Before the body of the decapitated man could even fall to the ground, Cloud had finished the job on the last one. As he grabbed for his cut face, Cloud thrust his sword outward and impaled the man on the end of it. He withdrew his sword from the man's belly, and let the body fall limply to the ground to accompany the other two.  
Around the prison, other thugs could be seen nervously shuffling their feet and walking into the relative safety of their shacks. Brawls were known to happen in the prison, and they often resulted in death. However, they were not used to the kind of brutality that someone with Cloud's power could commit. Cloud had the feeling he would not need to deal with any more fights while they were down here.  
"Don't look at them." Cloud said to Aeris, who's eyes were fixated on the fallen men.  
"You saved me." Was all she could say. "Thank you."  
"My pleasure." He replied. "Let's get going. They're already starting to smell."  
They continued on their way to the shack with the open door. As they approached it, they could see that it was not empty inside. There were a couple of prisoners inside the shack, but they were not as big as most of the others and didn't look as powerful. Cloud had a feeling he could probably take the shack from them without much trouble.  
He entered the shack first, followed by Aeris and then Cait Sith. The two men inside were having a conversation, but they turned to the three visitors as soon as they came in.  
"Hey, you fellas haven't seen a big black guy with a gun for an arm around here, have ya?" One of the men asked. "I heard he's been tearing around here shootin' up the prisoners."  
"He's down here?" Cloud asked to no one in particular. "Holy crap."  
"Wait, so y'all know who I'm talkin' 'bout then?" The man asked. Cloud nodded, but didn't say anything.  
"Why would he be shooting everyone, Cloud?" Aeris asked. "It doesn't make sense."  
Cloud didn't answer her. He didn't have time to. Aeris had barely finished asking the question when Barret barged through the front of the shack. His eyes were still burning with rage.  
"Barret!" Aeris greeted him. "Are you okay?"  
He didn't answer her, but raised his gun-arm to prepare to fire.  
"Barret, what the hell are you doing?" Cloud cried. "Put that arm down!"  
Barret didn't listen. He held his arm up for a few seconds, and then opened fire.  
"Barret!" Cloud yelled, dodging out of the way. He grabbed Aeris as he fell to the ground, to keep her from getting hit. When the gunfire ceased, his raised himself to his feet to make sure that neither he or Aeris was hurt. They were not, but the two men that had been in the shack were lying dead on the floor.  
"Barret!" Cloud yelled again. "What did you kill them for?!"  
"They deserved to die." He replied.  
"No they didn't!" Aeris said. "They didn't do anything to you."  
"Did you kill those guards in the Gold Saucer, Barret?" Cloud asked. Barret nodded.  
"Fuckin' Shinra are better off dead." He said.  
"Barret, you can't just go around shooting people." Cloud said. "Aren't you forgetting why we came this far?"  
"I don't give a shit anymore. It's not worth it." Barret replied. He turned around and walked out the door.  
"Barret!" Cloud yelled after him. Barret ignored him and kept walking.  
Cloud ran out the door to see Barret heading off toward what appeared to be an automobile graveyard, not unlike the train graveyard in the Midgar slums, near the far edge of the prison. He ran after him, and Aeris followed. Barret sat on the edge of one of the old cars and put his face in his hands again. Cloud walked up to him and sat nearby, but not too close as to arouse Barret's anger again. He could hear crying, and at first he thought it was Barret but then he realized it didn't sound like Barret. Barret heard it too. He lifted his head out of his hands so he could hear it better. He looked puzzled.  
"You hear that?" He asked Cloud. Cloud nodded. Barret got up from his seat on top of the car and began to walk in the direction of the crying.  
"Barret, where are you going?" Cloud asked. He wasn't at all sure of anything about this man anymore. He never thought he'd see Barret kill so brutally, and without reason. Barret ignored him and continued to walk, winding around the automobile graveyard and toward the cliff face beyond it. Besides being surrounded by vast desert, the desert prison also had a steep cliff on one side, the same cliff that partially bordered North Corel. Cloud wondered why, if that cliff brought back such horrible memories for Barret, was he heading right toward it.  
As Barret made his way around the giant pile of destroyed trucks and cars, he could see the source of the crying. There was a man who appeared to be about the same age as Barret sitting on his knees in front of two shabby, makeshift gravestones. There were tears in his eyes. Behind him, the edge of the cliff could be seen in all its splendor, the rift extended far below them and the desert beyond stretching as far as the eye could see. The wind whistled as it blew over the cliff, and dust and sand blew at their faces. The man heard Barret and Cloud approach, but he did not turn his head.  
Cloud looked at Barret and then back at the man. Barret looked as though he had seen a ghost. The man kneeling before the two gravestones was missing his left arm. Instead of a forearm, he had what appeared to be a shotgun-like gun-arm. Cloud suddenly began to piece together what was happening here.  
"Dyne." Barret said under his breath.  
Aeris ran up behind Cloud to see Barret facing the man in front of him. She began to speak, but Cloud silenced her.  
"I heard stories about somebody getting' a gun-arm like me." Barret said. "I always thought they either weren't true, or the guy wasn't you."  
"I haven't seen you in years, Barret." The man said, not turning his head from the gravestones. "I'd prefer to keep it that way."  
"Dyne, please don't blame for what happened that day." Barret pleaded. "Everybody else still does."  
"Who the hell am I supposed to blame then, Barret?"  
"The Shinra!" Barret yelled.  
"I can't bring myself to blame something so big like that." Dyne replied. "It doesn't make any sense."  
"Who did you bury there?" Barret asked, changing the subject.  
"What the hell do you care?" Dyne asked. "Two guys I knew down here that died in a brawl. It happens every week, at least. This is the kind of shit hole I have to live in because of you."  
"It's not because of me." Barret replied. "Come on, Dyne. Come with me. I can get you out of here."  
"And do what, Barret?" He asked. "Reminisce about old times? Talk about our families? Pretend we still like each other? For God sake, I haven't seen you since you dropped me down that cliff and for no good reason I survived! And now I have to live like this for the rest of my life."  
He stood up and raised his gun-arm in the same fashion that Cloud had seen Barret raise it many a time.  
"Dyne, come with me and we'll fight the Shinra." Barret said. "They're the real enemy. It's because of them that you have to live like this."  
"It isn't worth it, Barret." Dyne replied. "It's not even worth living. You're a mouse fighting a lion. You'll never be able to do anything."  
"That's not true, Dyne…" Barret began to say. He was cut off by a gunshot from Dyne's arm. He dodged out of the way as the shells barely missed his body.  
"Dyne!" Barret yelled. "We used to be friends!"  
Dyne raised his arm to fire again, but Barret shot him once in the knee to keep from doing any more harm. Dyne leaned over to grasp his leg in pain.  
"You live in a different world than I ever did, Barret." He said through clenched teeth. "I never want to live in your world."  
"Dyne, I never wanted any of this for you." Barret replied.  
"I'm sure you didn't." Dyne said, still holding onto his leg. Limping heavily, he began to back up toward the edge of the cliff.  
"Dyne, what are you doing?" Barret asked nervously.  
"Is Marlene still around?" Dyne asked, ignoring Barret's question. Barret nodded.  
"Yeah, she's in Midgar."  
"Give this to her for me." Dyne said, taking off the pendant he was wearing around his neck and tossing it to Barret.  
"This was your favorite necklace." Barret said. Dyne didn't reply to that.  
"I don't think you'll ever be able to change this world, Barret." Dyne said. "But I hope you can, for everyone else's sake. I just don't want to be around in case you fail."  
"Dyne, please…" Barret didn't have time to finish the sentence. Dyne backed all the way to the edge of the cliff, and then jumped backward into the air. He made not a sound as he fell the huge distance toward the ground at the bottom of the rift. Above, Barret, Cloud and Aeris heard a loud thump, and then silence except for the whistling of the wind. Barret sat down on the ground and put his face in his hands again.  
"It's okay, Barret." Aeris said, putting her hands on his shoulders. "It was never your fault. You're a good man, Barret. You really are."  
Cloud gestured for Aeris to follow him away from the cliff, and she reluctantly did so. Cloud thought Barret could use a little more time to be alone. He was surprised to see that Barret slowly got up and followed them. Cloud headed back to the shack where Barret had killed the two men, but Barret gestured for them to go a different way.  
"I think I can get us out of here now." He said softly.  
"Let me go get Cait Sith first." Aeris said. She ran toward the shack to go summon the cat and his mog.  
"Who's she getting?" Barret asked.  
"A strange creature we met at the Gold Saucer." Cloud replied. "Aeris wants him to come along with us."  
Normally Barret probably would have protested, but there was no resistance left in him at this point. He was too depressed. He just shrugged and waited for Aeris to return with Sith. Once they arrived, he led them toward a small trailer not far from the hut that they had fallen into when they first arrived in the prison. There was a huge shaft extending above the trailer to the sky. Cloud guessed it probably connected the trailer to the Gold Saucer high above them.  
Barret entered, and waited for Cloud to accompany him. There was a man sitting behind a desk and behind him was what appeared to be an elevator leading upward. Cloud guessed that the man was probably the jailer for the prison.  
"Can I help you folks?" He asked. He looked at Aeris, puzzled that young girl like her would be in the prison. "Are you prisoners?"  
"Yeah, but we want out." Barret said.  
"Well I'm afraid you can't get out except under certain circumstances." The jailer replied. "Dio will often let prisoners out if they can win a chocobo race."  
"So let's do that then." Cloud suggested. "I've only raced once before, but I might be able to do it."  
"Well, son, the problem is there's a huge waiting list for the race." The jailer said. "You might have to wait a few months before we can schedule you, and then you might not even win."  
"A few months?" Cloud asked incredulously. "We can't wait that long."  
The jailer shrugged.  
"Sorry." Was all he could say. He looked sadly at the four of them. They didn't seem to be bad people. Suddenly, he noticed the pendant that Barret was holding.  
"Oh my God." He said. "Isn't that Dyne's pendant? You must have killed him to get that." He looked around at them nervously.  
"Alright I'll see if I can get you to a race right now. Which one of you will do the racing?"  
"I will." Cloud said.  
"Okay, get in that elevator." The jailer said. "When you get to the top, a woman named Ester will get you all set. If you win the race, I'll make sure that Dio lets you and your companions leave the prison."  
Cloud nodded, and walked toward the elevator.  
"Good luck." Aeris said.  
"Thanks." Cloud replied. "I'll do my best."  
The jailer closed the elevator door in front of Cloud, and he was lifted upward to face his challenge.  
  
***  
When the elevator doors opened, Cloud found himself back in the Gold Saucer. This time, however, he was in a small waiting room. There were a bunch of veteran racers sitting at a table in the middle of the room. Cloud looked around nervously. He wondered if he had any real chance of beating them.  
A short woman wearing heavy make-up approached him as he stepped away from the elevator.  
"Why you must be the young man who's goin' to race to win his freedom." She said. "Why aren't you just a little darlin'. Come on, I'll set you up real nice."  
She took him by the hand and lead him toward a small office.  
"My name's Ester, by the way." She said as they walked. "What's yours, darlin'?"  
"Cloud." He said. "Cloud Strife."  
"Alright then, Cloud." She said. "Listen, hon. They told me down there to give you a real good chocobo to race with, but that ain't gonna win the race for ya. You gotta know what you're doin' too."  
"I've raced before." Cloud replied. "I know what I'm doing."  
"Don't get too cocky now, hon." Ester said. "I've seen a lot of good boys lose the race 'cause they were so sure they were gonna win."  
"I'll keep that in mind." Cloud said.  
"Alright, well if you're ready then you can wait outside until the race starts." She said. "I'll show you which chocobo is yours once you get in the arena. Good luck, hon."  
He nodded, and then headed back to the waiting room. He sat in a chair away from the table and was silent. The veterans were chatting about various races and how they won them, or almost won them. Cloud doubted that most of the stories were true, but they were interesting to listen to anyway. After awhile, a buzzer went off in the room and the men at the table got up and began to file out of the room. Cloud followed them down a large stairwell that lead to the chocobo cages in front of the arena.  
Inside the cage area Cloud could hear the loud chirps and nasal sounds of the chocobos, and outside the cheering of the fans. It made him a little nervous to know that such a huge crowed of people was a about to see him race. He hoped that he wouldn't make an embarassing mistake. In fact, he sincerely hoped that he'd win the race so that he could free himself and his friends.  
Ester was standing in front of one of the chocobo cages, and she waved to him when she saw him enter the cage area. He walked toward her to see to chocobo inside the cage. It was a large, yellow bird. It appeared to be in good shape.  
"He isn't very big." Cloud commented.  
"She might not be very big." Ester corrected him. "But she can run like hell, and she's got good stamina too. She'll do ya just fine, darlin'."  
Cloud just shrugged. With Ester's help, he opened the cage and grabbed onto the reins of the bird. Together, they guided the animal to the starting point where Cloud would begin the race. Around him, Cloud saw the other racers bringing their chocobos to the starting point as well. In front of them, the large cage doors were opening to expose to the starting points, the racers, and the chocobos to the fans. Their endless cheering became even louder.  
"Just do your best and you'll be fine, hon." Ester said. "Good luck."  
She turned around and ran up the stairs to the calm of the waiting room and her office. Cloud tried to remain calm as well, as he lifted himself onto the back of the chocobo. He rubbed the back of its neck slightly to calm it down, and to keep it from being frightened of him.  
"Don't fail me, girl." He said to the back of its ear. "I need to win this race, and I need your help."  
He felt a little silly whispering in the ear of the chocobo, but as he lifted his head and looked around he saw that he wasn't the only one doing it. At least two other racers were doing the same thing. He leaned forward and grabbed tightly onto the reins of the animal, preparing himself for the race that was about to start.  
It all seemed to happen so quickly. The announcer let everyone know that the race was about to start, and a large light on the ceiling flashed red. The other races shifted in their seats at the top of the animals slightly, and Cloud did the same. The light turned yellow, and the other racers remained still, with looks of determination on their faces. The light turned green, and the race had begun.  
Cloud and his opponents immediately bolted away from the starting points and into the racecourse. Cloud got a good head start and began the race ahead of everyone else. He leaned close to the animal to keep his upper body from becoming a hindrance to the aerodynamics of the running creature. He didn't know the course, but the chocobo did, and she made the turns as though she had done it every day of her life. It probably wasn't far from the truth.  
Cloud found that the race was not that difficult. Ester was right about them giving him a good chocobo. The one he was riding had excellent stamina, and had been running at a good pace since the beginning of the race. The closest racer behind him was still out of sight. Around him the racecourse was illuminated by a psychedelic display of lights. After a run beneath a small tunneled area, he was exposed to the crowd again. They cheered in a huge roar for him, the current leader.  
He was impressed by how easily he was able to stay ahead of the other racers. Before long he could see the end of the race. It was now all within his grasp. He pushed the chocobo to go a little faster. He saw that the other racers had done the same and were gaining a little ground on him. It wasn't enough. Even the closest racer behind him couldn't pull it together enough to get ahead. Cloud crossed the finish line first, and he and his yellow chocobo became the winners for that race.  
Ester and a few other important members of the chocobo circuit came to congratulate him. Dio, still shirtless, entered the racing area followed by two Shinra guards for protection.  
"Sorry about that whole prison thing." He said. "I'll let you and your friends go since you won the race."  
"Thanks." Cloud said, shaking the large man's hand.  
"I'll even throw in an extra something for ya, to make up for the trouble I put ya through." He added, and then walked back to join the growing crowd of Gold Saucer employees. Cloud shrugged and then headed back toward the door through which everyone had come. He was anxious to round up his companions and get the Hell out of there.  
Ester lead him back to the waiting room he had come in when he was first brought up from the desert prison. Barret, Aeris, and Cait Sith were waiting there to congratulate him and thank him for winning their freedom. Cloud told Ester to make an announcement for Red XIII and Tifa to meet them by the entrance to the park.  
When Cloud and the other three got to the main entrance, Tifa, Red XIII, and Dio were waiting for them.  
"Cloud!" Tifa yelled and ran toward him. She hugged him tightly. "I saw you race. You were wonderful!"  
"Yes, Cloud." Red XIII said. "I heard about your race. Excellent job."  
"I apologize for the inconvenience to ya all." Dio said. "As part of my apology I'm gonna give you one of my personal dune buggies. It's a great vehicle, and it'll get ya around real quick. I'll have somebody take ya down to pick it up, and then you fine folks can be on your way." He turned to Cait Sith. "Sorry for throwin' ya in the prison, Sith. We're gonna miss ya around here."   
Cait Sith just nodded and waved goodbye. Dio turned and left them alone, now a group of six.  
When they had been taken back to the ground once again, Cloud felt relieved to know that they could finally leave. He had been excited to come when they first got there, but now he was ready to let the Gold Saucer become just a memory. Aeris and Tifa were crooning over how nice their new vehicle was, and Red XIII and Cait Sith were arguing over whether it was stranger for a cat or a wolf to be able to talk. Barret was still feeling depressed and remained silent.  
Cloud took the driver's seat of the buggy and began to acquaint himself with the controls and the interior. Before long, he was confident that he could drive it. Aeris found that the control panel in the front of the buggy had the option to turn on a 3-D map of the world on it. After some deliberating while looking at the map, they decided to head for the village of Gongaga, which was about halfway between where they were and Cosmo Canyon. They would make a pit stop there, and then head straight for Red XIII's birthplace.  
Cloud really hoped that Barret would be able to break out of this little funk. He wanted the good old Barret back. The one that he would get into fights with on occasion, but who was always an excellent fighter and a worthwhile companion. He was going to need the old Barret when they got to Cosmo Canyon. There was work that needed to be done, and Barret would be no help in a depressed state. Cloud just hoped that with the passing of North Corel and the Gold Saucer, Barret would be able to put his worries out of sight and out of mind. 


	15. Rites of Passage

Chapter Thirteen: Rites of Passage  
  
  
It was unfortunate that it came as no surprise to anyone that there had been a Shinra related disaster at Gongaga. A Mako Reactor built there had collapsed just like the one in North Corel, leaving only a few survivors. In true Shinra fashion, Rufus was denying responsibility for the accident and was refusing to offer any more cleanup help than to dispatch the Turks to check things out. Like in North Corel, the Mako radiation would be left to hover in the air and contaminate the land for years to come.  
Cloud drove the buggy right into the wooded town. The village had been built within the forest many years before. The dense foliage provided protection from military invasion, but no amount of trees could protect a village from the insidious infection that was the Shinra. Gongaga had done its part to let a Mako Reactor be built, and now it was being thanked by receiving a large shipment of body bags from the Shinra Headquarters.  
Cloud warned everyone to stay in the buggy while he got out and checked the area. He hadn't realized that Gongaga had become a disaster area when he decided to come there, and now he had no intention of staying. Besides the Mako radiation that had undoubtedly contaminated the air with the explosion of the reactor, he knew the Shinra wouldn't be far behind. Unfortunately, he didn't realize that they would already be there.  
A few villagers were standing in front of the huge wreck of metal that had once been a powerful reactor. Black body bags were strewn across the forest floor, readied for a mass burial. Standing outside the crowd of villagers, Cloud recognized the two Turks known as Reno and Rude themselves. They turned around to see Cloud with his sword unsheathed and Barret and Tifa running in his direction to back him up.  
"You people better get outta here." Rude warned. "There's radiation all over the place."  
"Hey, aren't you the son of a bitch that gave me this?" Reno said, holding his hand over the bandage that had been wrapped around his arm.  
"Yeah, I did…" Cloud replied, "Because you pieces of shit blew up the Sector 7 slums."  
"We did you motherfuckers a favor." Rude said. "The trash that lived in those slums are better off burnin' in Hell than living in Midgar."  
"You son of a bitch!" Barret yelled at him, raising his gun-arm. "You say something like that again and I'll…"  
"You'll what?" Reno interrupted. "You'll kill us? Bring it on, you pussy. I bet that slut standing behind you has a bigger pair than you do."  
Tifa's face turned red with anger. Barret raised his gun-arm and slammed it backhanded into Reno's face. Reno yelped in pain and dropped to the floor, blood gushing out of the side of his face. Cloud was quick to swipe at Rude, who dodged out of the way and ended up on the ground next to Reno.  
"Get the fuck outta here." Barret said. "If I see you two pieces of shit ever again I'm gonna slit both your throats."  
Both Turks got up to their feet and began to run in the direction of the destroyed reactor. Cloud heard the beating rotors of a hovering helicopter and guessed they were running toward it.  
"And tell your man Rufus he's number one on my shit list!" Barret yelled after them. "I'm giving serious thought to murdering him the next time I see him!"  
He doubted they could still hear him, but it felt good to vent his anger. Cloud had already ran after them in pursuit, as well as Tifa. Barret decided to follow.  
"If they get away, they're gonna let Rufus know they saw us!" Cloud yelled as he ran.  
"Who cares?" Tifa yelled back. "He's got better things to worry about than us! Save the fight for another day Cloud!"  
Cloud ignored her and kept running. She and Barret followed. They arrived at the backside of the crippled reactor just in time to see two helicopter hovering in the air. One was in the process of leaving, and the two Turks could clearly be seen sitting inside of it. Beneath the other, a woman dressed in red was standing and talking to what appeared to be another Turk.  
"There's gotta be a better way to get energy than these God-forsaken power plants." The woman dressed in red was saying. "This happens all the time. Like I keep telling Rufus, we have to find those Huge Materia. That's the only way we can get easy energy without these reactors."  
She and the other Turk, a blonde woman, approached the second helicopter as it landed to pick them up. Cloud arrived where they had been standing just in time to look up and see the two helicopters flying away from the abandoned village and its destroyed reactor.  
"Fuck it, Cloud!" Barret yelled from the brush near the side of the reactor. "They got away! Let's get the Hell outta here and head for Cosmo Canyon."  
"Shit." Cloud muttered under his breath. "Alright I'm coming."  
They ran back to the buggy, bypassing the commotion centered around the shell of the destroyed reactor. Overhead Cloud could hear the two helicopters returning to wherever they had come from. The sound became fainter and fainter as the helicopters flew away and the party arrived at the buggy. The climbed in quickly.  
"Alright, change of plans." Cloud said. "This whole town is fucked over. The radiation is gonna kill all those idiots standing around the reactor. We have to get out of here, so I say we head straight for Cosmo Canyon."  
"It's about a day's trip away from here." Red XIII warned. "Are you prepared to drive for that long."  
"Yeah, I'll be alright." Cloud replied. I just need you to give me directions for the shortest way there."  
"Agreed." Red XIII answered. "Well then, let's get going."  
As Red XIII had predicted, the travel took the rest of the day. It was just after dusk when the tiny buggy began to approach the mountains that surrounded Cosmo Canyon. The mountain rocks had a distinct red coloring, and the reddish orange colors of the retreating sun seemed to compliment it.  
Red XIII sighed comfortably as the view of his home appeared through the windshield of the buggy. He tried futilely to push down the lever to lower the window, but his paw was too clumsy a limb to operate the button with. Seeing his trouble, Cloud lowered the window for him.  
"Thank you." Red XIII acknowledged him. Cloud smiled and nodded, and then turned back to driving the vehicle. Red XIII breathed deeply. "Ahhh, it smells just like I remember it. Do you smell it, Cloud?"  
Cloud nodded.  
"Campfires?"  
Red XIII nodded in turn.  
"It's been too long since I've smelled it. We must be near if we can smell it so well." He said, his nostrils taking in the air as if he hadn't breathed for hours.  
"Well, don't you have a good sense of smell being that you're a wolf and all?" Cloud asked.  
Red XIII laughed, something Cloud never thought he'd see an animal do, and yet after the recent events in his life it didn't seem that extraordinary.  
"You make an excellent point, Cloud." He replied. "But still, I know we are close. I can feel it. I can feel home."  
In the back seats Aeris and Tifa had awoke. Barret was still sleeping quietly. Cait Sith was staring blankly out the window.  
"Are we there yet?" Aeris asked, wiping sleep from her eyes.  
Cloud put his finger to his mouth, gesturing for her to be quiet, and then pointed to the snoring Barret to remind her why he was doing so. She nodded in understanding.  
"Almost." He whispered. "Sit tight, we'll be there in about ten minutes."  
The small buggy looked like a tiny dot on the dusty crimson surface of the mountain. The actual town that they were driving to was at the summit, but it wasn't hard to get to because the mountain top was more like a plateau than anything else. The surface was relatively flat and the edge, beneath which was the canyon for which the town was named, was almost a straight cliff. Cloud pulled the buggy right in front of the gates of the small town, and shut down the transmission. He gestured for Tifa to wake up Barret, and he arose groggily from his seat to join the others.  
"There's a guard at the front gate." Cloud said. "I'm gonna tell him why we're here, just to make sure that we're welcome. I'll come back and let you guys know if everything's okay."  
The guard was a large, burly man, whose skin was tan from exposure to the sun. He was wearing a tunic that left his upper arms bare, so that Cloud could clearly see the man's very large bicep muscles. Cloud walked toward the guard, who eyed him and the buggy suspiciously.  
"Who are you?" He asked, and then continued before Cloud had the opportunity to answer. "Do you know this place?"  
"Yes." Cloud answered. "This is Cosmo Canyon."  
"This is Cosmo Canyon." The guard replied. "But can you tell me anything else about this place? Do you know anything else about this place?"  
Cloud shook his head.  
"Then please leave." The guard said.  
"But…" Cloud started to argue.  
"I said leave." The guard said again, this time raising his spear.  
Red XIII ran to the side of Cloud, the fire of his tail illuminating the night. The guard looked at him with a smile, wisps of recognition coming back to him.  
"Wow, it's been a long time." The guard said. "How many years has it been?"  
"Two, I believe." Red XIII answered. "I stayed up long nights wondering when I could see my home again."  
"Are they with you?" The guard asked, gesturing to Cloud and the others.  
"Yes, these are my friends." Red XIII replied. "They helped me escape from the Shinra."  
"I'm sorry." The guard said to Cloud. "I didn't realize. You can all come right in."  
Cloud nodded, and gestured for the others to approach the gate. Aeris helped the still groggy Barret to wake up and start walking, and Tifa locked up the buggy. Cait Sith was silent as the mog on which he was sitting walked toward the gate.  
"Is my grandfather here?" Red XIII asked the guard as the others began to pass through the gate.  
"I think so." The guard replied. "Last I heard, he was in his observatory."  
"Okay, thanks." Red XIII responded.  
"Take care now." The guard said, returning to his post.  
Barret sighed as they walked into the middle of the small village. As Red XIII and Cloud had noticed, there was indeed a bonfire in the center of the village, and a few townspeople had gathered around it to eat their dinner. Red XIII walked toward the fire to greet those that he had known when before he was taken from his home.  
"It's been a long time since I've been here." Barret said. "I forgot how much I liked it."  
"You've come here before?" Cloud asked. Barret nodded.  
"I visited here a few years back, after Corel was destroyed." He replied. "It's a good place for inspiration. I came up with the name "Avalanche" while I was here."  
Red XIII ran back to them from the group of people he'd been talking to.  
"Do you see that observatory?" He asked.  
Cloud craned his neck to look upward. There was a huge telescope built at the top of the mountain so that it would not be affected by light pollution. It was built at the top of a large tower that occupied a large portion of the village's land space.  
"Yeah I see it." He replied.  
"My grandfather is there right now. The village people say they saw him there just a few hours ago."  
"Well, aren't you going to say hi to him?" Cloud asked, puzzled.  
"In my village it is custom for the leader of a pack of travelers to greet the town leader first." Red XIII said. "Which means that you have to greet him."  
"Me?" Cloud asked.  
"Yes." Red XIII confirmed. "His name is Bugenhagen. He is a world-renowned scientist and professor. Just let him know why we're here and what our current situation is. Once you've become acquainted, he'll allow the rest of us to come up."  
Cloud nodded.  
"Okay, sounds easy enough."  
"And don't forget to tell him that you're with me." Red XIII added. "Or else he won't know how you got in the village."  
Cloud nodded, and then turned to head for the entrance to the tower. There was not much inside, although it appeared that at least a few of the townspeople took their residence inside. He also noticed that a weaponsmith had set up shop near the base of the tower. He made a mental note to check that out later.  
The tower extended relatively far into the sky and it took him awhile to reach the top. Along the way he encountered a few of the townspeople who confirmed that Bugenhagen was in the observatory. When he reached the top of the tower he entered the room to find an old man hovering in the air in front of the window.  
"Hello, young man." He said without turning to face Cloud.  
"Are you Bugenhagen?" Cloud asked.  
"There are some who call me that." He answered, now turning to face his visitor. "But most here simply call me Professor."  
He noticed that Cloud was looking at him in a strange way, as though he was puzzled about something.  
"You look at me as though you've seen a ghost." Bugenhagen said. "Is it because I am floating, and not standing on the ground as you must?"  
Cloud nodded.  
"There's only one other man that I know who can float like that, and he's actually the reason that I'm here." He replied.  
"Is that so?" Bugenhagen asked. "And who would that be?"  
"A man named Sephiroth."  
"Ah yes. The great general from the Midgar - Wutai War I presume. I thought he was dead."  
"So did I, until a few days ago." Cloud responded. "He showed up at the Shinra Headquarters. Speaking of which, myself and a few others were able to free your grandson from the testing lab in Midgar."  
"Nanaki!" Bugenhagen exclaimed. "It's been two years since I've seen him."  
"Nanaki?" Cloud asked.  
"Yes, of course. He never told you his name?"  
"Dr. Hojo was referring to him as Red XIII, so he told us to call him that too."  
Bugenhagen visibly grimaced.  
"Now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time. He's on of the most illegitimate scientists the world has ever known, and yet he's also one of the most successful." He said, with obvious scorn for the man. "Anyway, Nanaki never much liked his name so I'm not surprised that he elected for you to call him by another."  
"You know, you never told me how you can float like that." Cloud remarked.  
"The powers of the mind are more powerful than you might imagine." Bugenhagen answered cryptically. "So, you mentioned that you are here because of Sephiroth."  
"Yeah. Red….I mean, Nanaki said that you might be able to help us figure out why he's suddenly decided to come out of hiding for so many years and kill the Shinra President."  
"He killed the President?" Bugenhagen asked, surprised. "I heard he went insane before he died, but I did not realize he was homicidal as well."  
"He must have had a reason for killing the President, and that's what we're trying to figure out."  
"Who exactly is "we"?" Bugenhagen asked.  
"The party that I led here." Cloud replied. "Some of us are from Avalanche, and others are here because they want answers to their questions."  
"Avalanche? So you're the ones that were making trouble for the Shinra in Midgar. Well, I can respect your cause. The Shinra are truly destroying the planet right before our eyes."  
"That's what Barret always says. He's here too. He was the leader of Avalanche before I joined"  
"Well I think I'd enjoy speaking to him then. And if Nanaki says that I can help you learn more about Sephiroth, then I hope I can."  
"It's very strange." Cloud said. "I feel as though my whole body is drawn to learn more about Sephiroth. To find him. To catch up to him and be near him."  
"Did you know him well in the past?" Bugenhagen asked.  
"Yes, but it isn't just because I want to see him again. I honestly don't. He killed my mother years ago when he lost his mind, and from then on I knew he was no longer the man I once knew. But still, I feel as though I've lost control. Every part of me tells me to seek him out and meet him."  
"Well, I must admit that is strange." Bugenhagen said. "Have you found any clues as to why he might have come out of hiding?"  
"Not really. I spoke to Dr. Hojo not long before we came here, and he said that Sephiroth had picked now for a reason. He mentioned something about a great reunion or something like that, but I didn't really understand."  
"Well, we'll need to speak further about that." Bugenhagen said. "For now, I'd like to meet the rest of your party and I'd like to see my grandson again."  
"Sure, I'll go get them." Cloud said. "Oh, and by the way…how is he your grandson if he looks like a wolf?"  
"Well, he's not actually my biological grandson." Bugenhagen answered. "I was his father's caretaker, and his father referred to me as his father. It seemed only natural for Nanaki to refer to me as his grandfather, as so he was raised that way."  
Cloud nodded.  
"Okay, I'll go get the others." He said, and then turned to walk back down the tower. He only had to go down one floor, because the others were waiting for him.  
"Is my grandfather ready to see us?" Red XIII asked.  
"Yeah he is, …Nanaki." Cloud replied.  
"I see he told you my real name."  
"Why didn't you tell us? It's a much better name than Red XIII."  
"You're real name is Nanaki?" Aeris asked. "I like it!"  
"You do?" Red XIII asked, surprised. "I never liked it. That's why I was content to just let you call me Red XIII. I felt it suited me just fine, and to be honest I'd prefer that you continue to call me that."  
"Hey, it's up to you." Aeris replied. "Whatever makes you happy."  
Red XIII walked forward to lead the rest of them, and together they marched up the stairs toward the observatory. Bugenhagen was waiting for them when they arrived.  
"Nanaki…it has been so long." He said as his four legged grandson entered the room. "How have you been?"  
"I've been fine, grandfather. It's been a long journey, but my friends helped me through it."  
"I'm glad to hear it. I feared the Shinra would destroy you in their experiments, yet somehow I knew that you were well. It is a relief to see you again."  
He floated closer to the group, and then moved out of the way so that they could all comfortably enter the room.  
"Please, everyone have a seat." He said. "I hope you don't mind if I float. I find it more comfortable than sitting."  
Everyone sat down, except for Red XIII who curled up on the floor and Cait Sith who remained seated on his mog perch.  
"Now," Bugenhagen began, "Which one of you is Barret?"  
"I am." Barret answered, having now fully awakened.  
"I heard that you are the leader of Avalanche, are you not?"  
"Damn straight I am. Can you tell us anything that can help us beat the Shinra?"  
"Yes, I believe I can." Bugenhagen answered. "But first, I need you to tell me a few things. First of all, why do you want to destroy the Shinra?"  
"Because they're destroying the planet. Those Mako reactors that they built everywhere suck the life out of the planet. And also because the Shinra don't care about the poor people like me that live in the slums. They're only out there to make money."  
"Well, at least you know what you're fighting for." Bugenhagen replied. "To be certain, your cause is a noble one. Can you tell me anything more about the Shinra?"  
"The former President was on a desperate search for the Promised Land." Aeris said. "But he didn't realize what it actually was. He thought it was an actual land from which he could mine an unlimited supply of Mako."  
"And do you know what the real Promised Land is?" Bugenhagen asked.  
"Yes, I do." Aeris replied. "But I have a hard time explaining it. Like I told Cloud once, I know it more as a feeling than something that I can describe."  
"I understand." Bugenhagen said. "I sense that you know much about the planet."  
"I should." Aeris said. "I am an Ancient."  
Bugenhagen smiled.  
"So it is you." He said. "The last surviving Ancient. I could tell as soon as I saw you walk in the room." He turned to face the entire group. "I believe I can help you defeat the Shinra, although I am not as sure about helping you find Sephiroth. I will do my best, however. But first, there is something I must show you that will clarify a lot of things that may be confusing you."  
He walked over to the far end of the room and pulled down a lever. A large circular platform descended from the ceiling and lowered to the floor. He stepped on top of it and gestured for the others to do the same.  
When he pulled the lever a second time, the platform ascended back to the ceiling taking the group with it. As it rose, they could see that they were being brought into a large, dome shaped chamber. Bugenhagen flipped a switch, and the lights went out leaving behind a projection of tiny dots of light on the black dome above their heads.  
"A planetarium." Aeris whispered, gazing with wonder at the cosmos being simulated above her head.  
"I had this installed years ago to help me with teaching astronomy." Bugenhagen said. "But it has other uses as well."  
Above them, a simulated shooting star flashed over the dome, temporarily illuminating the "sky." Bugenhagen flipped another switch, and suddenly the projection became three dimensional, plunging the group into the middle of the solar system. Cloud was standing next to the representation of the Earth. He could see the Sun not far from where he was, and circling around it were all the planets in the system.  
"Look closely at the model of the Earth." Bugenhagen told them.  
As they stared intently at the surface, the image of a man appeared standing on the top of the planet. He glowed, as though his figure was made of pure energy.  
"It has been said that everything in the universe is fundamentally composed of energy." Bugenhagen whispered softly. "What we think of as matter is really nothing more than a certain type of energy."  
The man standing on the planet could be seen decomposing into his component energy. Energy streams created from the remains of the man sprang up and then returned to the planet surface. On the other side of the planet, the figures of two children sprang up.  
"And since energy cannot be created or destroyed, but merely transferred, some speculate that living beings never truly die. They're life energy is simply returned to the universe in its simplest form."  
The figures of the children could be seen growing taller and older until, like the man, they decomposed into their component energy and returned to the planet.  
"This energy is the lifeblood of the planet. It is known as the lifestream, and it is what creates life and everything which we see around us. When human beings on Earth die, the essence of their soul returns to the lifestream. There, the soul can achieve a greater consciousness beyond anything at can be experienced as a mortal on Earth. This pinnacle of thought and conscience is known as the Promised Land."  
From the surface of the planet, thousands of streams of energy arose and began circling around it. The Earth was illuminated in the blackness of the simulated space around it by the lifestream.  
"The Mako which the Shinra harvest to fuel their cities is the lifestream in its tangible form. By mining the Mako, the Shinra are in effect killing the very sustenance of our planet. Without the lifestream, the planet will wither and die like an animal without nourishment."  
Suddenly the energy circling the planet began to disappear. To the disturbed eyes of Bugenhagen's audience, the planet began to become barren as the last wisps of life giving energy vanished. The entire planet crumbled, and in mere seconds it disappeared from the void of space.  
Bugenhagen pressed the lever again, and the lights came on. The platform descended back into the observatory, and he walked into the room followed by the others.  
"So you see, Barret is quite right. The Shinra really are killing the planet." Bugenhagen finished. "And our time is short. The planet is already beginning its downward decline. As we speak, the amount of barren deserts are increasing, while life bearing forests and lakes are vanishing. If something isn't done soon, the planet will die just like the one in the simulation. Now you see why your mission to stop the Shinra is so critical."  
"Why didn't you contact us before?" Barret asked. "The funny thing is that I came up with the idea of Avalanche the last time I can here to Cosmo Canyon a few years ago. Our group could have used your help from the very beginning."  
"It would have been too risky." Bugenhagen answered. "I am well known throughout the world. By helping you I would have exposed you. The fact that your group managed to stay low profile until the time when you actually struck and destroyed two Mako reactors is the very reason why you were never stopped."  
"So what do we do now?" Barret asked. "At best we can destroy a few more reactors before they finally destroy us. But we can't take on the Shinra by ourselves."  
"I fear that they may destroy themselves soon, but it may come at the loss of many innocent lives." Bugenhagen replied.  
Barret looked puzzled, as did the others.  
"Do you know something that you haven't told us?" Cloud asked.  
"The Shinra have been doing some research lately on the ways of the Ancients." Bugenhagen replied. "I know because I like to keep tabs on them, especially Professor Hojo. You probably thought that the only reason they wanted to experiment on the girl was because they wanted to know how to reach the Promised Land."  
"That was what the President said he wanted." Aeris said.  
"The President, yes." Bugenhagen replied. "But not Professor Hojo. Hojo had much less control over the former President. But since Rufus became the leader, Hojo has more influence. And he has more potentially destructive plans than the old President ever did."  
"What do you mean?" Aeris asked.  
Bugenhagen floated over to the window and looked out at the nighttime view.  
"Hojo is in search of the Black Materia." Bugenhagen said. "There is a prophecy that the Black Materia, locked away in the Temple of the Ancients, has the power to summon a meteor that will destroy all living things on Earth. It was created by the Ancient mages in case mankind ever reached its pinnacle.   
The Ancients knew that if human beings reached the point at which they could harvest the lifestream in mass quantities, they could potentially destroy the planet in doing so. So they created the Black Materia so that should that dark time ever come, the meteor would destroy all things living on Earth. The essence of all those living things would then return to the planet to be reincarnated into new life. Everything would be destroyed and life would have to start over again, but at least the planet would still exist."  
"So why does Hojo want the Black Materia?" Aeris asked.  
"He doesn't realize the implications of it." Bugenhagen replied. "All he knows is that the power to summon such a horrible creation would make him the most powerful man on Earth."  
Everyone else was speechless. They had not been prepared for such a revelation.  
"The Shinra must never be allowed to find the Black Materia." Bugenhagen said. "If they do, everything that we know will be destroyed."  
"What happens if they find it and the summon Meteor?" Red XIII asked.  
"The planet will unleash the Weapons." Bugenhagen replied. "They are the planet's final resort before Meteor hits. Once Meteor is summoned, it takes a long time to reach the Earth. Before that time comes the Weapons, which are huge monsters summoned by the planet itself, will try to destroy the people that are misusing the lifestream. If the Weapons are successful in doing so, then Meteor will vanish, its mission no longer needed."  
"So if Meteor were ever summoned, the Weapons would appear and begin destroying the Shinra?" Barret asked.  
"In theory, yes."  
"Then why don't we let Hojo summon it." Barret suggested. "He obviosuly doesn't realize what would happen. The Weapons would do all the dirty work for us and save the planet."  
"Unfortunately, it isn't as simple as that." Bugenhagen replied. "The Weapons, as foretold in the scriptures of the Ancients, are not efficient. They kill anything in their way to stop those that misuse the lifestream, including innocent people. And there is no guarantee that they will destroy the Shinra before Meteor arrives and wipes out everything. So that is not an option. You must make sure that the Shinra do not get their hands on the Black Materia."  
"How exactly do we do that?" Cloud asked.  
"You must travel to the Temple of the Ancients and recover the Black Materia yourselves." Bugenhagen replied. "If you bring it to me, I can assure you that I will keep it safe from the Shinra."  
"Where exactly is the Temple of the Ancients?" Cloud asked.  
"It is on a small Island to the Southeast of here. I will show you on a map before you leave." Bugenhagen replied. "But you must recover the Keystone before the may enter the temple."  
"The Keystone?" Cloud asked. This was starting to become very complicated.  
"Yes. It is the key that allows you into the temple. Surprisingly enough, the key has become a valuable artifact to collectors. I believe a man by the name of Dio who runs the Gold Saucer amusement park is its current owner."  
"If it's valuable, I don't think he'd give it to us." Cait Sith spoke up. "He's not known for being generous."  
"We'll have to convince him." Cloud said. "So I guess once we leave here we'll head back to Gold Saucer."  
"I'm sorry to put you through all this, but you must understand how urgent the situation is." Bugenhagen said. "I'd like to give you more information about Sephiroth, but I'm afraid this must take precedence for now."  
"I understand." Cloud said. "Don't worry, we'll find the Black Materia."  
"Please, stay here for the night." Bugenhagen suggested. "The bonfire is still alive. You can dine there and then sleep beneath the stars. Tomorrow morning I will give you rations and supplies to take with you on the trip."  
"Thank you." Cloud said.   
Bugenhagen smiled and nodded. The others began to leave the room, except for Red XIII who remained curled on the floor. Cloud turned to walk out of the room, but Bugenhagen called to him.  
"One more thing, Cloud." He said. "If you truly feel like you are physically drawn to find Sephiroth, then perhaps it is your fate to do so. Destiny is speaking to you. I suggest you listen to what it has to say."  
Cloud nodded, and then walked out of the room. He left behind an old man and his grandson, both of whom had a lot of catching up to do.  
  
***  
As Bugenhagen had suggested, they ate dinner around the campfire and became acquainted with some of the townspeople. Red XIII joined them after awhile, and he too ate dinner. Someone had the idea to tell stories around the fire, and most of them agreed. Tifa told everyone the story about what happened in Nibelheim from her point of view, with a little story telling help from Cloud. When she was finished, everyone sitting around the campfire that hadn't yet heard the story now felt that they hated Sephiroth.  
Cait Sith told a relatively meaningless story about an incident that happened at the Gold Saucer. Aeris told a story about the Ancients, and how they once outnumbered the humans but were now all but extinct, save for herself. Barret told about how his brainchild, Avalanche, had been born when he was here in Cosmo Canyon. Red XIII enjoyed listening to the stories, but was too tired to tell his own. He was the first to fall asleep.  
In the morning, Cloud went back up the tower to get the supplies from Bugenhagen. He gave them rations, some light wrist and shoulder armor that he'd picked up from the weaponsmith, and some materia that he had laying around and no longer needed. Cloud gathered the supplies and everyone in the group by the buggy. It took awhile to get everything packed in for the long trip. He thought everything was ready when suddenly Red XIII burst through the front gate to the town.  
"Wait for me!" He yelled as he ran toward them.  
"You're coming with us?" Cloud asked. "You're home now. I thought you'd want to stay."  
"Yes, I'm home." Red XIII said. "But there's nothing for me here anymore. You are my friends now. I want to stay and help you."  
"Well we're glad you're coming." Tifa said as she packed the last of her things into the back of the buggy. "You're always welcome with us."  
Red XIII tried to smile, but only wound up looking frightening as he bared all of his teeth. But Tifa knew what he meant, and she smiled back. With everyone ready and set in the buggy, Cloud turned on the engine and pulled away from his makeshift parking spot. He waved goodbye to the guard as he turned the buggy around and drove away.  
Tifa had taken the passenger's side seat next to Cloud this time, and she had already unfolded the map. It would take awhile to get back to Gold Saucer, and Gongaga wasn't an option as a pit stop.  
"Any ideas on how we're gonna get to Gold Saucer?" Tifa asked.  
Cloud put the buggy into park and unbuckled his seatbelt. He leaned over to get a better look at the map. Looking at the neighboring towns in the vicinity of Cosmo Canyon, he noticed a familiar name.  
"Nibelheim is very close to here." He said.  
"Isn't that the town where you grew up that you told us about at Kalm?" Aeris asked.  
"Yeah." He replied. "I wonder if they ever rebuilt it after Sephiroth burned it down."  
"I heard they did, but I never went back after I came to Midgar." Tifa said.  
"I think we should take a look." Cloud said. "We aren't far, and I'd like to see what's it's like after all these years."  
"Another sidetrack?" Barret asked, incredulously. "We're supposed to be going to Gold Saucer. Nibelheim's in the opposite direction."  
"I'd like to see Nibelheim too, Cloud, but I think Barret's right." Tifa said.  
"Well, like you said before, it's gonna take a long time to get to Gold Saucer from here." Cloud replied. "If we go to Nibelheim for a little while, we can head for Rocket Town which is on the other side of Mt. Nibel. We could probably get someone to take us to Gold Saucer in a small airplane. A lot of retired pilots live there."  
"Rocket Town?" Barret asked. "Man, what the fuck are you talkin' about. We gotta go straight to Gold Saucer and get that damn key thing the old guy told us about."  
"That's true, but I think Cloud may have a point." Red XIII spoke up. "Rocket Town is named after the Shinra rocket that was supposed to be launched into space years ago from the launch site there. The launch failed, and the rocket is still there on the launch pad. A lot of retired pilots live around the rocket, and most of them own airplanes. We could probably get a ride from someone if we paid for it."  
"So then let's go straight to Rocket Town and fuck Nibelheim." Barret said bitterly.  
"We have to go through Nibelheim to get there anyway." Cloud said. "Nibelheim is at the foot of Mt. Nibel, and we have to cross through Mt. Nibel to get to Rocket Town."  
"I'd like to see Nibelheim too." Aeris said. "I think it would be interesting."  
Barret looked at Cait Sith, who had been silent the whole time.  
"You wanna go there too?" He asked.  
"Oh, I don't care." Cait Sith said. "I'm just along for the ride."  
"Bugenhagen said that my destiny is trying to tell me something, and that I should listen to it." Cloud said. "And I feel like we should go to Nibelheim. So I'm gonna go. I think it would be for the best if everyone else came too."  
"Alright." Red XIII replied. "I think that would be the best course of action."  
"Uh, yeah me too." Tifa said.  
"Me three." Aeris chimed in."  
"Yeah whatever." Barret said. "I'm in."  
"Like I said, I'm along for the ride." Cait Sith spoke up, and then became silent again.  
"Alright it's settled then." Cloud said. "I'll drive straight for Nibelheim. Let's just hope they rebuilt it, otherwise it'll be hard to get to Mt. Nibel."  
He put the buggy back into drive and sped away. Red XIII stared out the back of the buggy as the small town at the top of the Canyon became smaller and smaller, until he could no longer see it. He was sad to be leaving it already, but he knew that he had to remain loyal to his newfound friends, and they would need his help to complete the quest that Bugenhagen had given them.  
Tifa saw him looking sadly out of the back window of the buggy. She shifted on the seat so she was closer to him and rubbed her hand over his muscular back. He turned to look at her.  
"You're with friends." She said smiling. "We'll take good care of you."  
"I know." He replied. "I don't regret coming with you. But I do miss home a little. It's hard getting used to being away."  
"That's how I used to feel after I left Nibelheim." She said. "But after awhile Midgar became like home to me."  
"You really want to see what Nibelheim is like now, don't you?" Barret asked from the seat behind her.  
"Yeah, I guess I do." She replied.  
"Well I hope it looks better than North Corel did." He sighed, turning to look out the window.  
In the front of the buggy, Cloud drove apprehensively toward the place that he had once called home. He was a little nervous that it would be just a large pile of burnt rubble. He hoped it would be rebuilt, so that he could at least imagine that he was home for a little while.  
He felt a strange feeling inside of him. It was the same feeling that he'd felt when he first realized that Sephiroth was alive. A feeling that drew him to Sephiroth. A feeling that made his entire being want to find Sephiroth, and to be near him. The same feeling drew him to Nibelheim. He wished he knew what it all meant.  
"Destiny is speaking to me." He whispered to himself. "And I have to listen."  
Outside, the Sun was beginning to rise above the horizon as the tiny buggy sped on its way toward its destination.  



	16. Shattered Dreams

Chapter Fourteen: Shattered Dreams  
  
  
Cloud stared ahead in amazement as he pulled the little buggy in front of a modern day ghost town. Nibelheim had indeed been rebuilt, but it was deserted as far as Cloud could tell. There wasn't a single person walking in the streets. He knew it had always been a small town with little influence on the rest of the world, but at least the town itself had usually been busy.  
"I guess they rebuilt it, but where is everybody?" Cloud asked rhetorically.  
"I wonder why they rebuilt it. Do you think the Shinra restored everything after the fire?" Tifa asked, ignoring Cloud's question.  
"This was their hiding spot for the experiments in the basement of the mansion." Cloud replied. "They need this town to be here so that nobody gets suspicious about that mansion."  
"I want to go see if they rebuilt my house." Tifa said, walking through the open town gates.  
"Looks like they rebuilt everything." Cloud replied, following her. Barret followed behind, significantly less excited about the town than Cloud and Tifa. The others stayed inside the buggy, some catching up on much needed sleep.  
Tifa stood looking in wonder at the house in front of her. It was identical to the one that she had once lived in, which had burned down five years ago. It was as though she had traveled into the past, and was looking at a building that looked exactly as she remembered it. The lights were off inside, and it looked as if no one was there.  
"Does anybody live here?" Tifa asked Cloud.  
He shrugged.  
"I don't know but the lights are on in the inn. I'm gonna go check it out." He replied. He walked into the small inn which was near the entrance to the town. There was an older man standing at the counter. He appeared to be the only one inside, and there was no noise coming from the floor above.  
"Have you always worked at this inn?" Cloud asked. "Tifa and I used to live here before the town burned down five years ago."  
"I don't remember anyone named Tifa." The man answered. "What's your name?"  
"Cloud."  
"I don't remember anyone by that name either."  
"Well, did you live here before the fire?"  
"No."  
"Well…uh…that explains it doesn't it?"  
Cloud scratched his head. This was kind of strange. Who the hell was this guy?  
"Can I help you folks?" The man asked pleasantly. "Would you like to rent a room for the night?"  
"There's nobody here." Cloud replied. "Who the hell do you sell these rooms to?"  
The man remained silent.  
"Ya know what, fuck this." Barret said. "What the hell is with this guy anyway?"  
"Cloud come out here!" Tifa called from outside the inn.  
Cloud immediately turned away from the man and ran outside. Tifa was staring at a man wearing a black hooded cape. His face was pale white. He looked almost like a ghost, and Tifa looked almost like she'd just seen one.  
"Who's this guy?" Cloud asked.  
"I don't know." Tifa replied. "When I asked him how long he'd been here he started mumbling something about a reunion."  
"A reunion?" Cloud asked, suddenly very interested. "Do you think that has anything to do with the reunion Hojo was talking about."  
"I have no idea, but this guy's really creeping me out." She replied.  
The man took a step closer to Tifa, and Barret immediately whipped out his gun-arm, ready to fire. The man did not attack, but simply mumbled.  
"The Reunion is near." He spoke, though the words were slightly garbled.  
It was around this time that Cloud began to notice other hooded figures wandering around the town. Most of their faces were shrouded by the hoods. One of the figures close by appeared to be a young boy.  
"Oh my God." Tifa whispered as she got a closer look at the boy, who was wearing a blank and expressionless face. "I recognize this kid."  
"What are you talking about?" Cloud replied. "We don't even know who the hell these people are."  
"No I'm serious, I recognize him." She responded, indignantly. "I remember seeing him around when I used to live here."  
"That's impossible." Cloud replied. "Everyone died in the fire."  
"How do you know that?" Tifa asked. "You and I left before the fire even died down."  
"Well then answer this," Cloud retorted, "If you remember this kid than how come he hasn't grown up since then?"  
Tifa didn't have a chance to respond because Barret took action.  
"Man, this shit is freaking me out." He said. "Let's get inside."  
Tifa nodded, and opened the door to her home which was the closest building. There were no hooded figures inside, as far as they could tell as they entered.  
"Did you look in here before?" Cloud asked.  
Tifa shook her head.  
"Go upstairs and make sure none of those guys are up there."  
She nodded and ran upstairs. Cloud pulled aside the drapes to gaze outside the window. The people had not pursued them, but rather stayed where they were staring ahead blankly as though they had all been lobotomized.  
"What the fuck's goin' on here?" Barret asked.  
Cloud shrugged.  
"I have no idea." He replied. 'I honestly didn't even think the town would be rebuilt. I definitely wasn't expecting people to be here, freaks or not."  
He was about to say something else when he was interrupted by another call from Tifa, this time from upstairs. He ran up, and Barret followed. They found her sitting on the side of her bed reading what appeared to be a file of some sort.  
"Looks like Hojo spent some time here after the Shinra rebuilt the town." She said as Cloud approached.  
"Shinra rebuilt the town?" Cloud asked.  
"That's what it says here." Tifa replied, pointing to the document she was holding. "These are Hojo's research notes. I guess he stayed in my room while he was doing research here."  
"What else does it say?"  
"Those people outside are the results of the experiments Hojo was doing." Tifa said as she glanced over the pages of the file. "After the fire he gathered up the bodied and began doing reanimation experiments. He was able to reanimate a lot of the people that died in the fire, but he considered them failures because they became like the zombies outside."  
"How did he reanimate them?" Cloud asked.  
"It's kind of confusing." Tifa replied. "But it seems like by adding Jenova cells and doing some other stuff he was able to bring them back to life indefinitely, but only in the almost brain-dead state like the ones we saw. The guy in the inn works for the Shinra. It says that he's there to make sure that none of the experiments leave the town."  
"Wow." Cloud said. "Hojo's more of a sick bastard than I thought. Is there anything else in there?"  
"Yeah, there's something about a guy named Vincent Valentine that he says was his only successful reanimation, and there's a paragraph about Sephiroth."  
"Sephiroth?" Cloud asked, his ears literally perking up.  
"Don't get too excited, all it says is that he was the most successful experiment involving Jenova cells. Oh yeah, and there's also a couple of paragraphs about the mutated people that you told us about when we were in Kalm. It says that they were all failures, and most of them were killed before he started experimenting on the corpses from the fire."  
"This is some heavy shit." Barret said. "How many experiments did this guy do?"  
"A lot." Cloud said. "And I'm sure I don't know about all of them. Hey Tifa, does that file say anything about the library that was at the bottom of the mansion?"  
"Yeah, it says that the library survived the fire completely. Everything that used to be down there still is." She answered.  
"I want to go check it out." Cloud said. "You guys gonna come with me?"  
Tifa shrugged.  
"Sure, why not."  
Barret didn't say anything, but he followed when they left her house and headed for the mansion. He kept his gun-arm tense as they passed the hooded figures on the way. When Cloud opened the door to the mansion he noticed that there were a few inside there as well. One was very close to the door, enough so that Cloud could see a number tattooed on his bare, pale arm. The number was 22. He walked closer to another person, who mumbled about the Reunion. He had the number 11 tattooed on his arm.  
"Looks like Hojo gave numbers to his experiments." Cloud observed.  
"I wonder how many there were in total." Tifa said.  
"Had to have been at least 22." Cloud replied, smirking for a second.   
Then the humor left him once more and he headed up the stairs and to the right. The closest room on the right once he had ascended the stairs had its own set of stairs, although these were of the winding type and had to be accessed through a door. Cloud sighed as he opened the door and beckoned for Tifa and Barret to follow him into the darkness below. The last time he'd gone down these stairs it was to find his leader, Sephiroth, who had gone insane in the library below surrounded by books that told him that he had been created and not born. It was odd, but he found himself feeling very much the same way that he had the last time he was here. He could almost feel Sephiroth's very presence here.  
The stairs were very long, and their legs ached by the time they reached the bottom. Barret muttered something about the stairs being worse than the ones they had climbed at the Shinra Headquarters, but of course that was an exaggeration. The basement area which they had entered was dank and cold, almost like a dungeon. It was exactly as Cloud remembered it.  
"The library is straight ahead." Cloud said, pointing in front of him.  
It was a short trip down a dusty hallway to get to the library door. As soon as Cloud opened it, he visually confirmed what his feelings had already told him. They were not alone in the basement. Sephiroth had beaten them into the library, and was seated at a desk reading a large book. His eyes looked up from the book, and seeing Cloud enter the door they suddenly burned with rage.  
"Human infidel!" He cried, standing up from his chair. "Spreading like a pestilence, even into my sacred library!"  
He threw an object at Cloud, knocking him to the ground , and then flew out of the door past Barret and Tifa. They ran into the room to help Cloud off of the ground.  
"Wasn't that Sephiroth?" Barret asked.  
"Yeah." Cloud replied, dusting himself off. "And he threw this at me."  
He held up a green materia crystal.  
"It looks like a low level spell materia." He continued. "I have no idea why he'd throw something like this at me."  
"Probably because he's completely insane." Barret answered nonchalantly. "I say we get the fuck outta here, cause this place is still givin' me the creeps."  
"Alright, let's grab everybody from the buggy and head through Mt. Nibel." Cloud said.  
He hurried out the door to the library, but Sephiroth was gone. Cloud guessed he'd probably teleported the way he had on the Shinra boat. The wall to his right was cracked open, probably the work of Sephiroth, and what appeared to be a secret door was exposed.  
"Where'd that door come from?" Tifa asked. "It wasn't there before."  
"Looks like Sephiroth busted open the wall on his way out." Cloud replied. "Come on, let's go check it out.  
The door was old and rusted. Cloud wondered how long it had been since it had been used. It was stuck in place, and it took a good deal of work from both Barret and Cloud to pry it open. When they did, they were greeted by a small chamber that smelled of dust and looked almost like an antique operating room. There were tools on shelves that lined the walls, and toward the center of the room was, of all things, a closed coffin.  
"What the hell is a coffin doing down here?" Barret asked to no one in particular.  
Cloud knelt beside it and probed the edge of wooden casket with his fingers. It was slightly rotten, but it was for the most part preserved since there was no moisture inside the chamber. It gave no resistance as Cloud lifted off the top to reveal a body inside. It was a man who appeared to be in his late twenties. He was wearing a red cape and his shoes had pointy steel tips, which was a popular style around 25 years before Cloud was born. The body of the man was perfectly preserved, as though it were not dead at all. In fact, when it sat up to stare into Cloud's frightened eyes it revealed that it was indeed very much alive.  
"Why did you disturb me?" He asked stoicly, moving nothing but his mouth so that he could speak.  
Cloud was speechless, and actually quite petrified though luckily for him no one else noticed.  
"We're sorry." Tifa stammered. "We didn't think anyone was alive in here."  
"You were right." He replied. "No one is alive in here. Now please, leave me alone."  
In one quick movement he grabbed the edge of the coffin's top and pulled it back over him. Perplexed, Cloud lifted the top off again.  
"What do you mean no one is alive in here?" He asked.  
"I meant exactly what I said." The man answered, clearly agitated. "There is no one alive in here. Now leave me alone!"  
He again pulled the top over him, this time not as gently as before. It made a slamming noise that echoed through the basement as it closed.  
"Aren't you alive?" Tifa asked, without lifting the top.  
There came no answer from inside. Suddenly, Tifa's eyes lit up as though she'd just had somewhat of an epiphany.  
"I know who you are." She said happily. "You're the guy I read about in Hojo's notes. He reanimated you and put you, alive and unaging, in this coffin."  
The top of the coffin slowly rose, and the man inside sat up to face her. He was very close to her and she noticed that his face was white and pasty, which was understandable. He hadn't been exposed to the sun in over twenty years.  
"Did you say Hojo?" He asked softly.  
She nodded.  
"Professor Hojo?" He clarified.  
She nodded again.  
"Where did you find his notes?"  
"They were in the house that used to be mine before this town burned down." She replied. "He must have been staying there, and he forgot them when he left."  
"How careless of him." The man responded, almost sarcastically. "What else do they say about me?"  
"All it says is that you were his only successful reanimation." She replied. "And that your name is…"  
She trailed off, snapping her fingers as she tried to recall his name.  
"My name is Vincent Valentine." He said, helping her out. "It figures he wouldn't mention in his notes how I came to be a dead man in the first place."  
"Did he have something to do with it?" Cloud asked.  
"I don't want to talk about it." Vincent answered. "Are you here because you are seeking Hojo?"  
"We came here to look for a man named Sephiroth, but when we leave we have to stop Hojo from destroying the world." Cloud answered, nonchalantly as though there was nothing out of the ordinary about this.  
"That sounds like him alright." Vincent said. "Are you going to come into contact with him?"  
"Most likely."  
"Are you going to kill him?"  
"After we've learned as much as we can from him, yes."  
"Then I will come with you." Vincent concluded. "I will help you on your mission. All I ask in return is that you may lead me to him, so that I may confront him and kill him myself."  
"Got a little personal vendetta going on here?" Cloud asked, amused.  
"In, time I may tell you." Vincent replied. "For now, help me find my weapon so that I may be of better assistance."  
"What kind of weapon is it?" Barret asked, suddenly interested in the dead guy standing before him.  
"It was a shotgun." Vincent replied. "A very nice one too. Oh there it is!"  
He pointed toward a 12-gauge shotgun hanging from the wall of the chamber. It was dusty but appeared to be in good shape. Slowly and painfully, he rose from his coffin to retrieve the gun. There were a few ammo boxes filled with shells nearby, and these he slipped into the concealment of his coat.  
"You'll have to excuse me if I'm a little slow at first." Vincent told them. "I haven't used my muscles since Hojo put me in there."  
As Vincent had warned, he slowed them down considerably as they made their way back to the buggy. When they arrived, Cloud explained to the others how they had picked up another passenger. Needless to say, they were confused about Vincent's origins, but they accepted him since Cloud and Barret had already done so.  
Cloud had to break the unfortunate news to everyone that they would have to leave the safety and comfort of the buggy for the time being. He knew this wouldn't go over well with them, which was why he'd kept his mouth shut about it until now. As he explained to them, the buggy would never be able to make it over the foot paths of Mt. Nibel. They would have to make the trek on foot.  
It took them about an hour to assemble everything they could carry from the buggy. Luckily, Dio had packed backpacks and other luggage bags into the trunk. Red XIII found these as he was rummaging through the inside of the buggy, and soon afterwards everyone began to pack their things. Even Vincent took a backpack, but it was packed lightly so as not to weigh him down too heavily. They didn't want to stress him too much, after being "asleep" for so long.  
The travel through the mountains was long and arduous. The sun beat down on them throughout the afternoon, and in short time even Aeris and Tifa were sweating profusely. Only Vincent seemed to enjoy the sunlight. It was something he hadn't been able to experience since the experiments, except in his dreams.  
As night fell it began to get cooler, and the trip became slightly more comfortable. Still, everyone's legs were tired, and the bags they carried seemed heavier than when the trip had started. When the last hint of sunlight disappeared from the sky, Cloud realized it was probably a good time to stop and get some rest. He was relatively free of fatigue, as he had made far longer and harder walks during his time in Soldier, but he knew the others were beginning to suffer. He gave the okay for everyone to stop, and they were quick to sit down and make themselves as comfortable as possible.  
Barret was starving, and he quickly found a few portable burners and began heating up some canned food they had packed with them. The others laid down and rested as best they could. Cloud was still restless, and began to walk around and survey their position. As far as he could tell they were coming close to the foot of the mountain. They had made their away around its side, and he suspected that when they began walking again in the morning they could make it out of the mountains within a few hours. From there it would be an easy trip to Rocket Town.  
The night passed uneventfully. Cloud was pleased to find that as a result of his technically being dead, Vincent did not actually need to sleep. Cloud was able to get some rest while Vincent kept watch over their makeshift camp.  
When the sun began to rise over the horizon early in the morning, Cloud woke everyone up so they could once again pack their things to leave. The packing process was quicker this time, and soon they were on their way. The rest of the trip was easier, as they now found that the trail was taking them downhill. By midday they had reached the foot of the mountains, and ahead lay their destination.  
"It's amazing." Aeris said in wonder as she stared at the rocket that stood in the center of the town. It towered high above the scattered houses and airfields that surrounded it. It was sturdy on its launch pad, but it leaned to the side almost like a space-age Leaning Tower of Pisa.  
It was about another hour's walk before they finally reached the entrance to the town. There was an inn near the front gates, and Cloud noticed a sign saying that there was an information desk inside. Cloud bid everyone wait outside while he went in to ask a few questions. He was in and out of the building within five minutes.  
"The clerk told me to talk to a guy named Cid Highwind." He said as he approached the group. "He lives in a house on the far end of town. He has a small plane that should be big enough to carry us all, if we squeeze in tight."  
He turned to Barret and then Tifa.  
"I want you two to come with me. Everyone else can stay in the lobby of the inn for the time being. Let's hope this guy will give us a ride"  
Barret and Tifa followed, and the others headed for the inn. Just in case there was any trouble, he wanted to have Barret along for his brawn. And in the case that this Cid guy needed to be persuaded, Tifa's charisma would be far more effective than anything Cloud could muster.  
The house was small and humble in appearance, but at the same time it appeared cozy from the outside. There were flowers on the window sill, and they were well tended. It reminded Cloud more than a little of Aeris' house. He rang the doorbell, and a woman who appeared to be in her thirties opened the door.  
"Can I help you folks?" She asked. She had a warm, inviting voice.  
"Uh, yeah." Cloud responded. "We're looking for Captain Cid Highwind."  
"Oh he's up at the rocket, hon." She replied. "But he isn't a Captain anymore, and if you call him that he'll get angry. He gets angry at a lot of things."  
She lowered her eyes as she said the last sentence. Cloud felt a strange awkwardness about the situation. He scratched the back of his neck.  
"Are we allowed to go up there and talk to him?" He asked.  
"Sure." The woman answered. "Just don't sneak up on him or nothing like that. Trust me, he'll get angry."  
Cloud nodded, and then thanked her. There was a road not far from the house that lead to the launch pad on which the rocket was sitting. From where they were standing the rocket leaned to the right, and it was quite a sight to see, especially as they walked closer to it. As they approached, they noticed that a hatch on the left side was open, and there was a rolling ladder connected to it.  
"I'll go up and talk to him first." Cloud volunteered. "If he seems alright, I'll let you know so you guys can come up."  
Barret and Tifa nodded, and Cloud headed for the ladder. It was basically a simple metal scaffold, and he was able to climb up quickly. With a quick movement, he swung himself up and into the hatch. He just barely missed knocking into the man inside, who had his back turned to the hatch. Cloud noticed the man's cigarette drop from his mouth and fall to the floor, still smoking.  
"Goddamnit!" He yelled. He turned swiftly around to stare at Cloud in the face. He was an older man, perhaps in his forties. His face was somewhat wrinkled, giving him somewhat of an older, wiser appearance. His stare was cold and uninviting. "Why the hell did you sneak up on me like that? I swear, I get this every fucking day."  
He squashed the fallen cigarette with the heel of his boot, and then immediately brought a pack and a lighter out of his pocket. He lit it up and took a long draw, and then looked back at Cloud.  
"So what the hell you want?" He asked. "You gonna talk or what."  
"I was waiting for you to finish with your cancerette." Cloud answered. "Didn't want to interrupt you."  
He was already beginning to dislike the man.  
"Yeah real funny, asshole. You got a lot of wit. So answer my question, what do you want?"  
"Well first of all, are you Cid Highwind?"  
Cid took another draw from the cigarette, and then nodded.  
"Yeah, so?" He responded. "Hey you aren't one of those Shinra bastards are you? Nah you're too young you couldn't be."  
"No actually." Cloud said, rubbing the back of his neck again. "What I'm here for is to ask you for a favor in return for some money."  
"Oh shit." Cid responded, glaring at Cloud. "You're another one of those goddamn fags. Why don't you people stay in the Midgar slums with your own kind."  
"No, no, no." Cloud protested adamantly, trying not to laugh. "I didn't mean like that. I mean, I'd like to ask for the use of your airplane in return for money. Or at least for you to fly me somewhere."  
"Well that's less discomforting then what I thought you meant, but the answer's still no. Now get outta here, and tell those morons in the inn to stop sending vagrants to my house."  
Cloud got angry with the man again.  
"Listen, dickhead." He said, losing his patience. "You've got to be the rudest guy on the planet. I'm willing to pay you for a ride. Now why the hell are you gonna turn that down? It would be helping myself and my friends out a lot."  
"You mean there's more of you?" Cid responded. "Now the answer's definitely no. I don't taxi people around in the Tiny Bronco. That's my own plane. Now get outta here, I'm trying to do something here."  
He turned back to what he had been doing before.  
"Whatever, asshole." Cloud responded, now visibly angry. "I'll let you get back to playing with yourself. Can you at least tell me where we can stay in town for awhile."  
"Are you still here?" Cid asked, turning again from his work. "Talk to Shera."  
"Shera?"  
"She's the bitch that's living in my house. Go talk to her."  
Cloud sighed with hopelessness, and then descended the scaffold. He gave Cid the finger behind his back as he made his way down.  
"Any luck?" Barret asked when Cloud had reached the ground again.  
"Nah, the shithead would barely even talk to me. He just blew smoke in my face."  
"So what the hell are we gonna do?"  
"He said to talk to Shera. She's the woman who talked to us at the door."  
They walked back toward the house and Cloud once again rang the doorbell. Shera answered once again, and she didn't look at all surprised to see them.  
"Cid said to talk to you about staying here in town." Cloud said.  
"Oh, well you're welcome to stay here for a little while." She replied. "I'd love the extra company. Come on in, I'll make you some coffee."  
Cloud couldn't turn down the offer. He was beginning to get hungry anyway.  
"So what did you want to talk to Cid about anyway?" Shera asked as she began to prepare the pot.  
"I wanted to know if he would either rent us his airplane, or fly us somewhere in return for pay." Cloud answered.  
"Well I could have told you he'd say no before you even saw him if you had just asked me." Shera said. "He loves that plane. It's all he has left, like he always says. He won't let anyone in it."  
"Well he could have been nicer about saying no." Cloud said, half under his breath.  
"Well he's like that. Especially when he's in the rocket. It brings back memories I guess."  
"So are you and Cid married?" Tifa asked.  
"No, no." Shera answered, almost sadly. "No, we're not a couple either."  
"But you cook and clean for him?"  
She nodded.  
"It's all I can do after what I've done to him."  
"What do you mean?" Tifa asked, intrigued.  
Shera sighed. She turned from what she was doing and pulled a chair out from the table at which the others were sitting.  
"I guess I might as well tell you the whole story. He hates it when I talk to guests, but he's not here to stop me. Did you know when you asked about him that he was supposed to be the first man in space?"  
"No, I had no idea." Cloud answered, surprised.  
"Well he was." Shera continued. "He was supposed to fly the rocket that he's in now. It was one of several rockets that the Shinra built, and his was supposed to be the first launch ever. Except I messed it up for him."  
"How?" Tifa asked.  
"Well, he and I met because he was of course the pilot, and I was one of the ground control personnel. I was the technical engineer to be exact. He and I had become close, and I almost saw a relationship and maybe a marriage in the future. He and I had worked a lot on the rocket together, and I had gotten used to his cold exterior. Inside he's really a kind hearted man. On the day of the launch, my only duty was to check the rocket boosters and make sure they were in good order, and then from that point on I'd be monitoring the rocket's status from the ground.  
"The day of the launch he and his crew were inside the cockpit and they were all ready to begin launch. I was beneath the rocket on the launch pad, surveying the boosters. I gave him the go-ahead, and he began the countdown sequence. Then I realized that one of the boosters was malfunctioning. I radioed Cid and told him I was going to need more time to fix it.  
"Once he started the sequence he couldn't stop it unless he aborted the launch. I told him to let the sequence go, and I would fix the problem. I knew that the blast from the boosters would kill me if I stayed down there too long, but I didn't care. Back then I was young, and blindly loyal to both the Shinra and to Cid. As I was trying to fix the booster, he kept telling me I was an idiot and that I had to get out of there because he wasn't going to abort the launch, and I was going to die.  
"I kept telling him not to worry about me, and to continue with the launch. He kept radioing me, so I turned mine off. I was desperate to fix the rocket. He let it count down right until the last minute, but foolishly he refused to let me die. At the last minute he aborted the launch. The auxiliary rockets fired, but the boosters didn't. The rocket lifted slightly off the pad, and then fell back down. It didn't fall down completely straight, and it wound up tilting to the side, which is why it still leans today.  
"Cid didn't get to go into space, but I was still alive. After the launch failed, the Shinra postponed the space program to concentrate on building more Mako Reactors. They never restarted it. Cid never got to realize his dream, and it was my fault. So you see, that's why I let him treat me the way he does. I deserve it. Because of me, he will probably never get to go into space."  
"How can you possibly tell yourself that you deserve that?" Tifa asked. "It sounds to me like you're a hero, not an idiot! He should thank you! You were willing to give up your life for him and for the mission."  
Shera sighed, and got back up from the table. The pot she'd been heating up water in was whistling.  
"Well it's too late now. He will never get to live his dream, and it's because of me. This is the only life that I can choose."  
At that moment, Cid burst through the door. He pulled a half smoked cigarette out of his mouth and threw it on the ground outside, and then pulled out the pack from his pocket to grab another.  
"Why are you having company again, woman?" He asked angrily. "I told you not to do that anymore."  
"You told them…" She began to protest.  
"Whatever." He interrupted. "Just get them out of here quick. That asshole Rufus is coming here soon to inspect the rocket, and he's just gonna say the same thing that he his daddy used to say."  
"Rufus Shinra?" Cloud asked anxiously.  
Cid didn't answer him, but simply walked up the stairs beyond the kitchen grumbling to himself. He disappeared from view, but a puff of smoke drifted down the stairs as he ascended.  
"Yes, Rufus Shinra." Shera answered instead. "Why do you ask?"  
"Honestly? Because we're not exactly in good company with the Shinra and I'd prefer that they not see us."  
Shera frowned.  
"Well you're not the only ones I guess." She replied. "A lot of people are on the wrong side of Shinra law. I have no love for them, and neither does Cid. The best I can do is hide you in the backyard when they come, and I'll warn Cid not to go back there. I can't guarantee that he'll listen though."  
"The dickhead would probably go back there just to spite me." Cloud whispered to Barret.  
At that moment the doorbell rang. Shera walked to the window and peered outside to see who the new company was.  
"It's Rufus!" She said to the others, slightly panicked on their behalf. "He's early. Hurry, go in the backyard!"  
They did as they were told. Cloud lead them out, and just in time as Shera opened the door for President Rufus and a few guards and officials.  
"Cid!" Cloud heard her call through the door. "The President is here for you."  
There was no reply, but they could hear Cid walk down the stairs and begin conversing with Rufus. He couldn't make out their speech, but it didn't sound altogether pleasant.  
"Let's just hope they don't come back here." Cloud whispered.   
Tifa nodded, but Barret didn't altogether distressed. He was rubbing his gun-arm, almost anticipating using it. He wasn't entirely wrong. At that moment, two Shinra guards and a fat old man walked behind the house and into the backyard. They didn't notice the others right away, but simply began to admire the Tiny Bronco which was parked there. It was a large biplane with a picture of a woman painted on the side. The words "Lady Luck" were painted beneath it. The fat man turned his head away from the plane just in time to see Barret's gun-arm pointed at his head.  
"Don't move and I won't blow your head off." Barret warned.  
The man raised his hands above his head in surrender. Cloud and Tifa approached the guards and quickly forced them to surrender their guns. They were clearly rookies. The man probably wasn't all that important.  
"You look familiar." Cloud said to the man. "Weren't you at the Shinra Headquarters when the President was killed?"  
"Yes." The man answered, his hands still above his head. "I'm Palmer."  
"Oh yeah." Barret said, in sudden recognition. "You're the pussy that was hiding under the desk. You're out causing trouble again huh?"  
Palmer didn't answer, but hung his head. He was sweating and appeared quite nervous.  
"Now you're gonna be a good little Shinra shit eater, and you're gonna keep your mouth shut." Barret said. "And the same goes for you two." He said, looking at the guards.  
"If you keep quiet until Rufus is ready to leave, we'll let you go." Cloud continued.  
He didn't have time to continue. The back door to the house opened, and Cid stepped out followed by Rufus and a few guards. Cid was almost as surprised to see Cloud as Cloud was to see Cid. Barret turned to raise his gun-arm at Rufus, and Palmer immediately seized the chance to run like hell. The two guards grabbed for their guns, and Tifa and Cloud turned to fight them back. Barret began to fire on Rufus and his guards, but they outnumbered him and he had to take cover behind the airplane.  
"You were hiding these scum from me?" Rufus asked Cid in disgust. "I'll have you arrested for treason!"  
Cid tried to protests, but Rufus had already taken cover as Barret began to fire on him again. Shinra guards were swarming all over the yard now, and even Cloud was having trouble fighting them. He and Tifa ran for cover behind the Tiny Bronco, kneeling not far from Barret.  
"What the hell are we gonna do?" Cloud yelled over the noise.  
"Let's just steal this guy's plane!" Barret yelled back. "He deserves it anyway. We'll take off, and pick up everybody else when things aren't as rough"  
Cloud agreed, but he wasn't sure how to go about doing that. He didn't need to ask. Barret apparently already had a simple plan.  
"I'll give you two covering fire!" He yelled as a bullet whizzed by his head. He stood up briefly and fired off a couple of shots to keep the guards at bay.  
Cloud nodded, and grabbing Tifa by the hand he jumped up onto the top of the plane. Barret stood up and began firing in all directions. He managed to hit two guards before he had to sit down again. It was enough coverage for Cloud to get into the open cockpit and pull Tifa in with him.  
"Hey!" Cid yelled from behind a pile of firewood where he'd been taking cover. "That's my plane!"  
He ran out from behind his cover and dashed for the plane. His cigarette dropped from his mouth as he did so, but he didn't even notice. He leapt onto the back of the plane, and began crawling toward Cloud. Cloud had already turned on the engine, and the propellers, which were located on the front of both wings, were beginning to spin.  
Barret rose again, and fired off a few shots. He didn't hit anyone, but it was enough of a return to clear the air for a few seconds. Seeing the opportunity, he hopped onto the plane and squeezed into one of the back seats. Bullets whizzed by as he nestled himself into the chair.  
"Take off!" He yelled to Cloud.  
The plane lurched forward, and Cid was barely able to hang on. Barret continued firing on the guards as the plane moved forward. Cid grabbed onto the back seat next to Barret and pulled himself in.  
"What the hell does he think he's doing?" He yelled, but Barret ignored him.  
Cloud drove the plane toward the runway near Cid's house and began to prepare for take off.  
"Have you ever flown a plane before?" Tifa asked.  
"No, but I think I can wing it."  
Tifa and Cid both put their hands over their eyes in dismay as the plane began to lift off. The wheels left the ground, and soon they found themselves lifting high into the air. The guards below continued firing on the plane, and Cloud tried his best to weave around the shots. He came close to flipping the tiny plane over.  
He made a sharp turn in the air and began to heading for the ocean, which he could clearly see from the air. They wouldn't be able to catch them there. He was almost out of range of their bullets when he felt a shot tear through the front end. The plane rocked, and then another shot hit one of the propellers. They began to spew smoke, and Cloud suddenly found his vision shrouded.  
The plane began to dive. Cloud fought with the stick, but there was nothing he could do. The plane was going down fast, leaving a trail of smoke behind it.  
"Hang on!" Cloud yelled to everyone behind him. He grabbed the side, and Tifa removed her hands from her eyes just in time to grip the handle near her chair. The plane hit the sea hard, and water splashed over the front and almost flooded the open cockpit. It washed over the propellers and cleared the smoke. Cloud heard the engine give a final whine, and then they died. Suddenly it became quiet except for the sound of the waves on the shore, which was not far from where they'd landed.  
"Is everyone ok?" Cloud asked, breaking the silence.  
Tifa looked shocked, but she appeared to be physically well. Barret had a look of concern on his face, but he was also unharmed. Cid had his face cupped in his hands.  
Cloud looked down to see a small puddle of water at his feet. It didn't look like enough for them to sink and they appeared to be floating well enough. He lifted himself out of the plane and walked onto one of the wings. The propellers didn't seem to be terribly damaged. He got back into the cockpit and was pleased to see that he could start up the engine again. The propellers began turning in the water, and soon the plane began to move forward as though it were a motor boat. Cloud couldn't help but smile.  
"I think we may be able to use this as a boat." He said happily. He turned to Cid. "Would that be alright with you?"  
Cid didn't take his hands away from his face. He might have been crying.  
"Whatever." He said. "It doesn't matter now. This was all I had left, and now even my plane is gone."  
It became silent again, except now the steady hum of the propellers drowned out the sound of the splashing waves. Cloud sat in the cockpit for awhile, contemplating what they could do. After awhile, Cid got up from his seat to lay down on one of the wings, but he said nothing. The makeshift boat continued to move slowly through the water, driven by the propellers. Finally Cloud spoke again.  
"We're gonna have to head for the east coast. I'll try and lead us as close to Gold Saucer as I can, and then we'll have to get out an walk." He said.  
"What about the others?" Tifa asked.  
"We'll just have to hope that they realize we're gone and head for Gold Saucer." Cloud answered. "Right now we can't worry about it. Getting the Keystone is more important."  
Barret nodded, and after awhile so did Tifa.  
"Are you coming with us, Cid?" Cloud asked. He almost felt pity for the old man. "We might be able to get your plane fixed when we get there."  
"Whatever. I don't even care anymore." Cid answered, forlornly. He was too sad to even pull out a cigarette. He just continued lying on the wing and staring at the sky.  
"I guess it's settled then." Cloud said. "It's gonna take a long time to get to Gold Saucer, and we don't have any supplies. I hope you guys can go without food for awhile."  
They didn't answer. Everyone seemed to find the situation too hard to believe. They had come this far, only to die stranded on a ship that they were using as a boat. It almost seemed surreal.  
Cloud turned up the engine, and the propellers began to spin faster. Soon the "boat" began to pick up speed, and they were on their way. They had been travelling for at least a few hours before the others began to get restless and sick of the sea.  
Barret splashed some water on himself to keep cool under the sun, which was now beating down on them heavily. Tifa leaned her head back on the chair behind her, but she couldn't get comfortable. Finally she got up and lay down on the opposite wing from Cid.  
Before long she began drifting off to unconsciousness, perhaps because of the heat or lack of sleep, or maybe both. Sleep began to find her, even though her tongue was dry and her stomach was empty. Soon she found herself losing sight of the world around her. The last thing she could remember, before she began her slumber, was the sound of the waves gently beating against the side of the boat.  



End file.
